Markets for Migration and Development (M4MD)

It will explore the connections which, in a globalising economy, link international labour mobility to trade and development. Addressing the complexity surrounding the interaction between these areas, the conference aims to highlight useful avenues for legal labour movements across borders and how reducing trade barriers increases the opportunities for migrants to contribute to development by skill, knowledge, financial and fiscal transfers. It will look at labour market priorities and the often different concerns of states in relation to international migration, including the related implications for social, economic and human rights. By including the perspective of the private sector, an often neglected partner in labour migration policy formulation, discussions will focus on the misalignment between labour market needs, government migration policies and trade liberalisation processes with a view to promoting a more integrated and effective framework. Comparisons will be made between the impacts of restrictions on human mobility on the one hand and of multilateral trade liberalisation in goods and services at the WTO and under free trade agreements, on the other. Involving selected government representatives, international experts, business leaders and academia, the 3-day meeting seeks to improve the dialogue between these actors and develop a few key policy recommendations on how to enhance the positive economic and human development impacts of the trans-boundary movement of labour migrants at all skill levels. The principal outcomes of the conference will be reported to the extended meeting of the GFMD Friends of the Forum in early December 2011.