SCMI State Agencies Meet Mrs. Kathleen Newland, the Senior MPI Fellow

On 10 April, 2017, an extended meeting with Mrs. Kathleen Newland, the Senior Fellow of the Migration Policy Institute was held at Tbilisi Public Service Hall, organized by the Secretariat of the State Commission on Migration Issues and supported by the International Organization for Migration.

The summary meeting was preceded by the series of individual interviews held by the expert with the targeted state agencies, involved non-governmental organizations and private sector representatives, aimed at studying the needs and possibilities existed in Georgia from the perspective of migration and development, and elaborating relevant recommendations to this end. The issues such as facilitating legal labour migration, internalization of education and its recognition, policy of the national bank of Georgia and activities of the commercial banks regarding migrants’ remittances, regional development and diaspora investments, the state products and packages offered by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Agriculture and the respective LEPLs, and their adjusting to the migrants’ needs were discussed at the meetings. In result, the expert presented the Georgian context-specific information and preliminary recommendations in three directions: remittances, diaspora involvement and circular migration. Later, Mrs. Newland will produce the detailed report reflecting her observations and respective conclusions.

The said work will help involved state agencies to elaborate the specific activities focused on migration and development for the next year action plan of the 2016-2020 migration strategy, and in case of identified potential and willingness, to extend both the range of involved stakeholders and the areas of their engagement.