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Chief of the State Migration Service delivered a speech at the event of the International Organization for Migration held in New York
The delegation headed by the Chief of the State Migration Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan, II rank migration service counselor Firudin Nabiyev is on a visit in New York to attend the event within the framework of the IOM’s International Dialogue on Migration on “strengthening international cooperation on and governance of migration towards the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018” held in New York on 18 and 19 April 2017.
During the visit, the Chief of the State Migration Service met with the IOM Director General William Lacy Swing. At the meeting, IOM Director General William Lacy Swing has been awarded the Medal of the Republic of Azerbaijan “for the effective cooperation with bodies of migration” for the services he rendered for expansion of relations between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and IOM. Medal was presented by the Chief of the State Migration Service Firudin Nabiyev.
W.L. Swing addressed his kind words and sincere congratulations to migration officials of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the occasion of 10th anniversary of the establishment of the State Migration Service. He expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation with the State Migration Service during the past period and once more highly appreciated the migration management model of Azerbaijan.
The works implemented by the government of Azerbaijan for the protection of the rights of foreigners and stateless, as a tolerant country that gives high priority to multicultural values were also highly appreciated by the Director General. F. Nabiyev noted that these are the results of the accomplished works under the leadership of the President Ilham Aliyev's successful policy, so that achievements gained in the protection of the rights of migrants in our country are highly appreciated by international organizations.
At the event, issues on migration-related sustainable development goals, including whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to migration, strengthening migration governance capacities for the protection of migrants at risk, for facilitating labour migration, and for arrangements for return and reintegration consistent with international standards, as well as cooperation and follow-up mechanisms aimed at facilitating safe, orderly and regular migration were discussed in details.
Attending the event on “Strengthening international cooperation on and governance of migration towards the adoption of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in 2018” on the basis of an official invitation of the Director General of IOM, Chief of the Service Firudin Nabiyev delivered a speech at panel on “building from the ground up: promoting a whole-of-society approach to good migration governance”.
Chief of the Service expressed his deep concern related to increased Islamophobia trends and efforts to equalize Islam with violation and terrorism in the migrant receiving countries. However, he stressed in particular that no violation of the rights of migrants on the national, ethnic and religious ground has been recorded so far.
Organization of prestigious international events in Azerbaijan, ranked among the list of safest countries, is an indicator of its growing prestige in the international arena.
Chief of the Service mentioned that today experiencing a growth period in the tourism sector in our country and considering significantly increasing flow of foreign citizens coming to our Republic from year to year, in general within the background of intensified migration processes in the world, a number of substantial measures have been taken to manage these processes in Azerbaijan.
In addition, as an indicator of high level of cooperation with a key partner of our country, the International Organization for Migration, the signing Cooperation Agreement on implementation of Pilot Project on Assistance for Voluntary Return of Migrants from Azerbaijan with the aim of establishing suitable conditions for voluntary return of migrants in illegal position in the Republic of Azerbaijan to their countries of origin was brought to the attention. F. Nabiyev emphasized that the Republic of Azerbaijan has been always open to bilateral and multilateral cooperation in all areas, including migration.
Finally, F.Nabiyev expressed his confidence that expanding international cooperation on migration, strengthening governance in this field and promoting a whole-of-society approach to good migration governance will contribute to the achievement of the objectives more quickly.
Recalling, on 19 September 2016, Member States adopted the “New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants”, which in Annex II sets out steps towards the achievement of a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration (GCM) in 2018. For that purpose member States called on IOM to make use of its premier policy forum, the International Dialogue on Migration (IDM), to contribute to the preparatory process of the global compact. On 18 and 19 April of the same year, strengthening international cooperation and migration governance is expected to be discussed at the first workshop.
