On 20 October 2023, the Government of India (GoI) and the European Union (EU) took a step forward in their cooperation on migration and mobility by launching Phase II of the India-EU Cooperation and Dialogue on Migration and Mobility project, also known as the India-EU CAMM support project. The launch gathered high-level officials from both India and the EU, EU Member States, as well as various stakeholders, including state-level representatives, the private sector and academia at the Chanakya Hall, Sushma Swaraj Bhavan (Ministry of External Affairs) in New Delhi.
The support is aimed at promoting safe, legal, and orderly migration within the India-EU corridor. It also includes measures to prevent irregular migration and helps implement the objectives listed in the Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM), which was signed in 2016. The next phase will be co-implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA).
The event kicked off with welcome remarks by Mr. Satoshi Sasaki, Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Director of ILO in New Delhi and Ms. Sedef Dearing, Director, Migration Dialogues and Cooperation (MDC) at ICMPD. In addition, Ms. Nupur Kapoor Mahawar, Joint Secretary, ICWA, also provided her opening remarks, setting the stage for the discussions to follow. ICMPD Director Ms. Dearing, who joined the event virtually, highlighted in her opening remarks “the need to build a global system of organised labour migration that works across all regions and serves the needs and interests of all sides involved”.
Mr. Johannes Luchner, Deputy Director General of the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) at the European Commission, and Mr. Muktesh Pardeshi, Secretary CPV/OIA from the Ministry of External Affairs, underlined the growing importance and increasing attention towards the India-EU migration corridor in the keynote remarks. The highlight of this session was the launch of the project’s brochure.
Further, the project partners, ICMPD and ILO, presented the work programme for Phase II. This was followed by a panel discussion, that explored the future direction of the India-EU relationship in the field of migration and mobility. The panellists were Ambassador Ms. Katharina Wieser from the Embassy of Austria in New Delhi, Ms. Alexandra Sa Carvalho from DG HOME of the European Commission, and Mr. Amit Saxena, General Secretary of the Federation of Indian Emigrants Management Councils and Associations (FIMCA). The session was moderated by Mr. Naozad Hodiwala, ICMPD’s Country Coordinator for India.
Some of the key observations that came out of the panel discussion on the future of India-EU mobility are the growing prospect of Student Mobility as a key form of EU-India mobility, the need for legal channels for vocational skilled migration, and the importance of including private sector stakeholders (employer/business associations) from both the EU and India, in the dialogue to enhance legal pathways for migration. The event concluded with closing remarks from the ILO New Delhi and ICMPD, emphasising the need for support from all the stakeholders involved, for a successful implementation of Phase II.
At the 7th India-EU High Level Dialogue on Migration and Mobility (HLDMM), held on the same day, both the Government of India and the European Union jointly recognised the achievements of the project partners under Phase I (2017-2022). They emphasised the importance of advancing the cooperation and the need to continue operationalising the latter, especially with regard to facilitating legal migration and countering irregular migration, as part of the Phase II work programme.
For more information about the project and updates on its progress, please visit the official project website at www.icmpd.org/euindia
Photo: Launch of the Project Brochure. (From left to Right) Dr. Surabhi Singh, Liaison Officer India, ICMPD, Ms. Nutan Kapoor Mahawar, Joint Secretary, Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), Mr. Anurag Bhushan, Additional Secretary, EP&W (Emigration Policy & Welfare) Division Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Muktesh Pardeshi, Secretary, CPV/OIA, Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Johannes Luchner, Deputy Director General, DG HOME, European Commission and Mr. Satoshi Sasaki, Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Director, ILO New Delhi