PRESS RELEASE No. 11
 

MANILA, Philippines, Oct. 29 - United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban  Ki-moon today said migration can be a tool which all nations can use to fight off economic recession.

“In face of such trends (economic downward spiral), it is incumbent upon us to affirm another reality: that migration can and should be a tool to help us lift out of this economic crisis. Now more than ever, politicians and policy makers need to cooperate across borders. Only in this way can we draw the greatest possible development benefit from migration,” Ban said in his opening address to the second meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Plenary Hall Wednesday.

This is possible as human mobility makes the world’s economies more efficient even “when they are not growing, by ensuring that the right skills can reach the right place at the right time,” the UN secretary general pointed out.

”And with or without an economic crisis, the underlying forces that lead 200 million people to cross international borders in pursuit of a better life will never disappear,” Ban further stressed.

Ban also said that he is heartened by the way GFMD has brought stakeholders to promote new ways of making migration work for development.

”There are many examples of this, but allow me to mention just one: The recently launched Joint Initiative on Migration and Development. This has been funded by the European Commission. It is being implemented by the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and will be reinforced through networks among civil society organizations and local authorities of European Union (EU) member states and 16 developing countries,” he pointed out.