Conclusions of the Extended Meeting of the Republic of Moldova – European Union Mobility Partnership Local Cooperation Platform

8 July 2014, Chisinau

The representatives of Moldovan authorities, EU Member States, European Commission, international organizations, met at the Extended Meeting of the Republic of Moldova – European Union Mobility Partnership Local Cooperation Platform organised in Chisinau on 8 July 2014.

During the event, it was mentioned that 6years of implementing the Mobility Partnership (MP)have shown that itis more thanapoliticaltool, as it reinforces theinterest of theEU Member States, national institutionsanddevelopment partnersto launchand coordinatenew projects andcooperation partnerships on migrationand development.

The scope of the Local Cooperation Platformgoes well beyonda mere framework for discussions on new strategic initiatives for cooperation and contributes to multiplication of the positive effects produced by the processes ofmigrationon the development ofthe Republic ofMoldova. For this reason, this year the event was alsoattended byrepresentatives of the Ministryof Environment.

Participants notedthat from the last meetingof the LocalCooperationPlatform, theMobility Partnershiphas produced more positive results, including:strengthening the capacityof national institutionsresponsible formigration management, enhancing goodinter-institutional cooperationand improvinginstitutionalcompetencelevel onplanning, analysisand implementation ofcoherent policieson migrationand mobility.

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During the event, participants gaveexamplesof severalprojects within which specific activitiesare implementedfor integratingmigrationpolicies, including by attracting remittances inthe economy, developing migrants’ friendly services and strengthening the ties with Diaspora, involvingmigrants inDiaspora associationsactivities. In this respect, was presented ​​ thesecondphase of the projectMOMID, which startedinMarch 2014. Thus, the Republic of Moldova, along with other 7 countrieswill continue implementingconcrete actionson the integration ofmigrationin the developmentof the country,especially targetingDiasporaissues.

One of the important steps towards EU standards and values, mentioned at the event, was the Social Dialogue Platform for Moldova, signed on 3 June 2014 between the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family of the Republic of Moldova, the National Confederation of Trade Unions and the National Confederation of Employers.The document represents the agreed parties’ statements and commitments in the areas of collective bargaining/ agreements, wage formation, labor dispute resolution and capacity building fororganizations.

With reference to the promotion ofregularmigration, the impact of the implemented projectsonsocial securityfor migrantworkers, new challengesin creatingbusinesses andjobsfor the returned Moldovan migrants and the benefits ofthe reform on vocational education system were discussed.As positive example can be mentioned the Agreement Between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the Government of the State of Israel regarding the Temporary Employment of Workers, which benefited already approximately 700 people. And recently, Qatar and Republic of Moldova started negotiations on the Agreement on temporary employment of Moldovan citizens.

Ensuring an enhanced protection of migrants, including via bilateral agreements on social protection and labor migration, and successfulimplementation of those in force was highlighted as a permanent priority for the MD side.

It was underlined that the concept of Global Agenda for Economic Mobility of the European Commission could be an important step forward and that Moldova would like to participate as a pilot country in its development and application.

A new trend was also discussed, which is to foster links between migration and development at the local level, by developing durable capacities and a systematic collaboration among national and sub-national authorities, civil society and private-sector stakeholders.

Through the implementation of the NEXUS-Moldova project, acknowledging that the wealthaccumulation (financial, social, human capital) and its eventual transfer – rather than remittances, per se – is the core motivation for the majority of current and future circular migrants, the key priority for the Government is to address the common market gap and facilitate more efficient circular migration processes - proactively link existing core wealth accumulation goals of circular migrants with a comprehensive portfolio of public and private sector service providers.

Within the Project on “Better managing the mobility of health professionals in the Republic of Moldova” the Government of the Republic of Moldova launched negotiationswith Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Israel on signing bilateral agreements between health institutions in line with the WHO Global Code of Practice for International Recruitment of Health Personnel, promoting legal migration, circular migration and return.

Cooperation in countering irregular migration also remains a very important component of the Mobility Partnership, especially considering the liberalised visa regime with the Schengen area since 28 April 2014. Collaboration with EUBAM and FRONTEX, strengthening the Integrated Border Management,as well as the operationalisation of the integrated information system on migration and asylum are priorities that will be further addressed by the partners within the MP.

As ofAugust 2014 the Republic ofMoldovawill issue next-generation biometric passports, with integrated chip in the booklets,making Moldova one of the first states in Europe to start issuance such passports. Subsequently, the demand for biometric passports is very high and has doubled in one year: 22000 biometric passports issued in May 2013 and 45000 in May 2014.

Ashort presentation onthe roleand alignmentof document securityrequirements andsecurity standardsof the EU andICAOrecommendations was made. Incontext,it was noted thatthe MPhas contributedsubstantially to theimplementationofthe Visa Liberalisation Action Plan benchmarks , as confirmed bythe Final Progress Reportof the European Commission,Chapteron document securityandmigration management.

For the developmentand the monitoringof policies theconclusions and trendsprovided by theExtended Migration Profileof the Republic ofMoldovaare taken into account, which is already at its third updated edition.

Additionally, a mapping of theMoldovanscientific Diaspora publication was made, andpublic policieswere adaptedto stimulatethe return and the reintegration ofMoldovan migrantsin the country, but also tofill in the Extended Migration Profile with datain these areas.

Focusing on the regional dimension of cooperation, the importance of sharing best practices with other countries implementing the Mobility Partnerships with EU, as Georgia and Armenia, and other EaP member states was reiterated,emphasising on the active cooperation within the Panel on Migration and Asylum. Following thepilotimplementationof manysuccessful initiatives, the Republic of Moldova receivesahigh appreciationandis an examplefor other countries inthe region, but alsofor interested countries all over the world.

Moldova’s participation and its active role in the framework of the Global Forum for Migration and Developmentwere as well mentioned.The last developments in migration and development field at a global level was presented, and the country's valuable contribution to the consultation process on international level on priorities for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, including within the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, and regional meetings from 2014 year, was highlighted.

At the end of the meeting the participants approved the last version of the MP Scoreboard database, which at the moment contains 106 projects and initiatives (34 under implementation and 63 completed), which is a result of the successful implementation of one of the recommendations of the MP Evaluation Report. A new MP Newsletter which reflects the most important achievements and developments of the last 6 months of activities of the national implementing institutions and international partners was also presented during the meeting.

Overall, the Meeting of the Republic of Moldova – European Union Mobility Partnership Local Cooperation Platform encouraged the exchange of opinions, new initiatives and made an overview of the main results achieved in this cooperation framework. The conclusions of the meeting will be generally presented and followed up during the MP High Level Meeting which will take place in autumn 2014.

The general conclusions ofthe meetingpointed outthe need forfurthercoordinationand evaluationprioritiesfor future cooperation, as well asto expand cooperationwithin theMP, especially in the field of migrationand development (including support programs foreconomic empowermentof youthand women,including theleft bank ofthe Dniester river,strengthening relations withthe Diaspora,Diasporaassociations), supporting the protection ofmigrant workers, their return and reintegrationin the society, as well as recognitionofmigrants qualifications whichcontribute to the integrationof migration inthe country's development. The balance of pillars of the MP continues to be a challenge and more initiatives are needed in the field of legal migration. More can be done in terms of circular migration.. New projects have to be to be made more migrant-centric.

Another remaining challenge is the need for a stronger representation from the EU Member States.

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