Inauguration of the Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) in Bamako, Mali / Monday 6 October 2008:

 

 

Inauguration of the Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) in Bamako, Mali / Monday 6 October 2008:

 

BAMAKO, Mali, September 15, 2008/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Inauguration of the Migration Information and Management Centre

(CIGEM)Accreditation: Journalists wishing to attend the inauguration should consult the press file on this website:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/acp/country-cooperation/mali/documents/cigem_press_pack_en.pdf

The news:

The Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) will be inaugurated on 6 October in Bamako, Mali, in the presence of Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, and Badara Aliou MACALOU, Minister for Malians Abroad and African Integration, and many other African and European politicians.

The aim of the Centre is to help Mali to define a Malian migration policy in response to the concerns of potential migrants, returning migrants and migrants residing outside Mali. It will serve as a single information and guidance office for all migrants.

The background:

The start-up of the CIGEM has been financed by the European Commission as a pilot project designed to enhance Mali’s capacity to deal with migration issues in partnership with neighbouring countries and with Europe. The Centre will seek to promote the mutual benefits of legal migration, to deter would-be illegal migrants, to highlight the financial contributions and transfer of knowledge of the diaspora and to obtain a better understanding of the migration phenomenon in order to be able to formulate an appropriate policy.

The project is a ‘pilot’ in that it is the first time the European Union is offering its support to a country in sub-Saharan Africa for tackling and preventing the problems generated by illegal and legal migration in the shape of an initiative addressing all the aspects of the migration phenomenon.

The CIGEM is part of a comprehensive approach to migration emerging from the high-level meetings in Rabat (July 2006), and Tripoli (November 2006) and from the political dialogue between Mali and the EU under Article 13 of the Cotonou Agreement. These meetings resulted in a Joint Declaration on “Migration and Development” signed by France, Spain, ECOWAS, the European Commission and Mali on 8 February 2007. The Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) is the operational outcome of that Declaration.

The event:

Inauguration of the Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) in the presence of the Head of State of Mali and the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.

Press conference in the presence of the Minister for Malians Abroad and African Integration and the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.

Radio–television discussion on “Migration – Employment – Youth” between Malian and European leaders and youth and migrant associations.

Round-table debate on migration issues in Europe and Africa, involving national, regional and international decision-makers and stakeholders.

Opening of the exhibition “Des Hommes et des Frontières”, photographs by Kays Djilali and Anaïs Pachabézian, CISP Association.

 

 

SOURCE : European Commission