Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration Laura Thomson is on a visit to our country

The delegation led by Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Laura Thomson visited the Alley of Honor, commemorated National Leader of our nation Heydar Aliyev with respect, and laid flowers at his grave.

The memory of prominent ophthalmologist academician Ms. Zarifa Aliyeva was also remembered and fresh flowers were laid at her grave.

Later visiting the Alley of Martyrs memories of the Motherland’s children who sacrificed their lives for independence and sovereignty of our country was recalled, fresh carnations were put on their graves.

Within her visit to the country Deputy Director General of IOM has been at State Migration Service today.

Warmly greeting the guests Chief of State Migration Service Firudin Nabiyev expressed his satisfaction with the mutual cooperation with the International Organization for Migration.

Service chief giving the general information about our country mentioned that today Azerbaijan is the most powerful and strategically important state in the South Caucasus. He noted that along with the implementation of huge energy projects in Azerbaijan, large investments are made in the non-oil sector of our country. F.Nabiyev stressed that as a result of measures taken and reforms made with the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev Azerbaijan was ranked 35th in the global competitiveness index of the economy in the recent report of the Davos Economic Forum. Azerbaijan is the first among CIS countries on this indicator.

Service chief stated that in spite of Armenia’s military aggression against Azerbaijan and its serious results, our country is achieving significant success in the path towards democratic development by mobilizing all its potential. Important and determined steps are being taken in the direction of establishment of democratic, legal and secular state and further progress of civil society in Azerbaijan.

F.Nabiyev highlighted the declaration of this year as a "Year of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic" in our country, which has great traditions of statehood, by President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic which was the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim East.

Service chief noted that today Azerbaijan has become one of the well-known multicultural centers of the world. Representatives of all ethnic groups and religions are living in peace and harmony in Azerbaijan. Not a single infringement of law based on national, ethnic and religious motives has been recorded in respect to migrants in our republic so far.

Azerbaijan has become a venue for prestigious international events, including sports games by reinforcing large-scale and spectacular efforts thanks to attention and organization of President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. It was stressed by Firudin Nabiyev that if Azerbaijan is selected to host Expo-2025 in November 2018, it will show an example of ideal host country.

Service chief talking about the migration processes occurring in the world mentioned that the recent rise in the number of conflicts and expansion of its geographical areas, and the rapid increase in the number of refugees and internally displaced persons are alarming factors. Of course, development of events in this direction and getting out of the scope of impact of the international community can lead to unpreventable chaotic situation and big tragedies. He stressed the worldwide significance of IOM’s officially joining to the UN family in September, 2016 and “The New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants” which was then adopted by the UN General Assembly to enhance attempts by international community in the management of ongoing refugee and migrant flows in the world.

It was noted that Azerbaijani Government mobilizes all its efforts to solve all problems of people forced from their homeland and carries out successful measures on employment, education, accommodation, medical and social provision of these persons step-by-step. Around a hundred modern settlements have been built for IDPs, accommodation conditions of thousands of refugee and IDP families have been improved and this process is going on. However, the main problem is the liberation of territories from occupation and the settlement of the conflict which has not been resolved so far as a result of destructive position of Armenia.

F.Nabiyev gave broad information about activity directions of State Migration Service, as well. He mentioned that the activity of SMS is based on the principles of respect to human and citizen rights and freedoms, rule of law and high humanism. It co-operates with relevant government agencies and coordinates the activities of these bodies in the field of migration. The Service implements the competences of unified state authority on “one-stop-shop” principle.

The Apparatus of State Migration Service, its 8 regional migration departments, as well as Detention centers for illegal migrants in Baku and Yevlakh and other structural units render high level services to the foreigners. A number of services are rendered by SMS at “ASAN service” centers which were established as an Azerbaijani Brand taking into account the importance of increasing transparency in the activity of state agencies and ensuring satisfaction of citizens.

Speaking about the improvement of legislation in the migration field Service chief informed that during the drafting process of Migration Code which entered in force in 2013 cooperation was conducted with International Organization for Migration, as well as proposals on improvement of migration legislation suggested by non-governmental organization during the meetings were also taken into account.

F.Nabiyev mentioned that today a rise in tourism sector is observed in our country, issuance of visas within 3 hours to tourists coming to our Republic is ensured and as a result, the number of foreign citizens visiting Azerbaijan increases considerably year by year. He noted that the composition of visitors to Azerbaijan is diverse. Thus, our country has visitors form all continents of the world.

F.Nabiyev highlighted that the increase in the number of foreigners visiting Azerbaijan during the last years turned the Republic to a country of transit and destination from country of origin and brought into attention with concrete facts that migration-related registration procedures of foreigners in our country regarding migration has been facilitated.

Information on capacity of Unified Migration Information System was met with interest by the guests.

Service chief touched upon the application of electronic document circulation at SMS and gained results.

Talking about fight against illegal migration Service chief noted that since 2015 nearly 10 groups intending to organize illegal migration channel to Europe were revealed and prevented. Recently, serious works have been conducted in this regard and relevant measures are taken jointly with appropriate law-enforcement and prosecuting authorities in order to prevent illegal migration channels.

State Migration Service continues relevant works for the purpose of raising awareness in the field of migration, as well as timely responding the applications made to the Service and ensuring citizen’s satisfaction.

Our country utilizes possible international instruments and cooperates bilaterally and multilaterally with international organizations and relevant authorities of foreign states acting in migration sphere for more efficient regulation of migration processes.

Mentioning the high level of cooperation with IOM, Service Chief underlined that the successful visit of Director General W.L.Swing to Azerbaijan on September, 2015 stimulated this cooperation. He highly praised the activity of organization’s office in Azerbaijan. Currently, several projects are jointly implemented with SMS and IOM office in our country. Among them “Consolidation of Migration and Border Management Capacities in Azerbaijan”, “Enhancing cooperation measures to effectively combating trafficking in persons through capacity building and technical assistance in Azerbaijan - Phase VI”, “Enhancement of National Capacities to Combat Human Trafficking in Azerbaijan” Projects and “Pilot Project on Assistance for the Voluntary Return of Migrants from Azerbaijan” were set as an example. Chief of the Service stated that SMS will further develop this successful and high level cooperation with IOM.

At the meeting measures taken towards implementation of agreements between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the European Union (EU), as well as with several other countries on readmission of persons residing without authorization were talked about. Significance of accelerating of negotiations and signing process of Implementing Protocols with EU Member States in the framework of readmission agreement was mentioned.

Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration Laura Thompson thanked for sincere meeting and detailed information, as well as expressed satisfaction with her visit to our country. 

At the meeting opinion exchange was conducted on other issues of mutual interest.

The permanent representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Vagif Sadigov participated at the meeting, as well.

Later guests visited the Heydar Aliyev Museum.

And then they got acquainted with classroom established at Service.