Cooperation issues between Kyrgyzstan and IOM discussed in Bishkek

Bishkek, Feb.24, 2020. /Kabar/. Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chingiz Aidarbekov met with Zeynal Hajiyev, the newly appointed International Organization for Migration (IOM) Coordinator for Central Asia and Head of IOM Mission in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The sides discussed priority issues of bilateral cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and IOM, in particular, issues of migration policy, labor migration and combating human trafficking, the press service of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said on Monday. Given the importance and urgency of the above issues for Kyrgyzstan, FM Aidarbekov noted the importance of continuing and increasing cooperation with IOM. The minister also expressed gratitude to the Organization for its ongoing support to the Kyrgyz Government in implementing programs and projects, aimed at improving migration management, policy and legislation, as well as providing assistance to vulnerable migrants, including efforts to combat human trafficking. In his turn, IOM Coordinator for Central Asia Zeynal Hajiyev highly appreciated the current level of cooperation, and congratulated the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic on the successful work done in the field of elimination of statelessness, noting that Kyrgyzstan is the first state in the world that has completely solved the problem of statelessness. At the end of the meeting, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Aidarbekov wished Hajiyev. success in his responsible mission as IOM Coordinator for Central Asia, and confirmed the intention of the Kyrgyz Republic to increase and strengthen cooperation with IOM. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is an intergovernmental organization that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. In September 2016, IOM became a related organization of the United Nations. It was initially established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) to help resettle people displaced by World War II. As of March 2019, the International Organization for Migration has 173 member states and eight observer states.