Cairo, 3 August 2016 - H.E. Nabila Makram Abdel Shahid, Egyptian Minister of State for Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates’ Affairs (MoSEEA) met with Mr Ovais Sarmad, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Staff in Cairo during his visit to present at the Arab League.

Attendees included Ms Marian Malak, Deputy Minister of MoSEEA for Migration Affairs and H.E. Ambassador Reda Bebars, Head of the Minister’s Cabinet, H.E. Ambassador Hassan Abdel Moneim, IOM Senior Regional Adviser for North Africa and the Middle East (MENA), Ms Carmela Godeau, IOM MENA Regional Director and Mr Amr Taha, IOM Egypt Head of Office.

The meeting addressed how to foster the ongoing cooperation between IOM and MoSEEA on migration governance, addressing irregular migration and enhancing the link between migration and development, including advancing the development of the Ministry’s strategy and action plan.

H.E. Abdel Shehid highlighted that Egyptian labour returning from neighbouring countries are interested in migrating again; and thus the need to enhance their skillset and match them with jobs abroad.

Mr Sarmad agreed with H.E. and added that there is a pressing need to promote Egypt’s youth as vectors for demographic and economic change for both Egypt and the European Union to how to best address challenges posed by Egypt’s fertility rates and capitalize on Europe’s low fertility and ageing populations.

On the subject of Egyptians abroad, H.E. referred to the recently launched website of MoSSEA with IOM’s support and the need to engage expatriates in the development of their country of origin.

“Egypt ranks amongst the top ten recipients of remittances in the world with +20BN in remittances only last year. Such remittances could positively contribute to economic and social development in Egypt if invested properly. There is therefore a clear need to promote remittances use for productive investment into local economies in Egypt to meet the needs of local communities and thereby address also the lack of opportunities that drive youth toward irregular migration,” reassured Mr Sarmad who explained how IOM could support the GoE in maximizing the impact of these contributions.

H.E. also requested IOM’s support in organizing an Inter-ministerial Mediterranean Conference, to discuss a migration and development nexus and common areas of cooperation on human mobility opportunities including labour migration which Mr Sarmad promised to provide.

Mr Sarmad also invited H.E. Abdel Shehid to participate as a speaker in a workshop on Assessing progress in the implementation process of migration-related SDGs, organised in the framework of IOM’s International Dialogue on Migration (IDM) on 11 and 12 October at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. H.E. expressed interest in the workshop and promised to confirm her availability.

The meeting concluded with an agreement between both parties to foster cooperation and on the need of developing a “migration profile” for Egypt, which IOM agreed to fund through its IDM.

For further information, please contact Amr Taha at IOM Egypt. Tel: +202-27365140, Email: iomegypt@iom.int