Baku - On 25-27 May 2021, the IOM mission in Azerbaijan jointly with the State Migration Service (SMS) in Azerbaijan organized a three-day online regional training course on “Key concepts and Trends in the sphere of Migration” for the civil servants of migration agencies for Azerbaijan and regional countries, including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Turkey, and Iran. The course was the beginning of academy-style training for migration practitioners from regional countries and aimed to improve their knowledge and skills in migration.

The event began with the official opening session where the participants were welcomed by Mr. Vladimir Gjorgjiev, Chief of Mission for IOM Azerbaijan, Mr Vusal Huseynov, Chief of the State Migration Service, and Ms Marie McAuliffe, Head of IOM Migration Research Division.

In his opening remarks, Mr Gjorgjiev highlighted the importance of providing an opportunity to as many migration civil servants from regional countries as possible to take part in lectures and discussions of leading experts in order to advance the quality of service delivery by state migration agencies from the region and beyond, as well to use this forum for sharing knowledge, experience, and best practices in migration area from the participating countries. “As part of the Silk Road this region has a very strong social and cultural connection and important migration flow during the history, and also those close connection and migration flow will exist in the future, thus the need for building regional capacity in this area”.

Ms. Marie McAuliffe, Head of IOM Migration Research Division, expressed the hope that this initiative which is very important for the region will mark the beginning of successful cooperation of the regional countries. “This event is a historical start of a really important initiative for the regional countries which is a part of fulfilling the implementation of the objectives related to Global Compact for Migration,” said Ms. Marie McAuliffe.

Chief of the State Migration Service Vusal Huseynov underscored that that this project will make an important contribution to the further development of cooperation between the State Migration Service, IOM Azerbaijan, and other state migration agencies from the region and beyond.
The online training course conducted by experts of IOM and local specialists was structured into three content-related modules, such as Introduction to Migration: Main Terms and Concepts; International Migration Trends; Policies and Strategies of Migration Management with the objective to provide an in-depth analysis of the subject of the training, including cross-cutting issues.

The first regional online training on migration was implemented in close cooperation between IOM Azerbaijan and the State Migration Service of Azerbaijan, within the framework of the "Supporting the establishment of a Regional Training center on Migration Management in Azerbaijan" project funded by the IOM Development Fund.

The project aims to enhance regional training capacities and cooperation on migration management in Azerbaijan, CIS countries, and beyond via the Regional Training Centre on Migration that will serve as a hub for knowledge sharing, research, and policy dialogue with governments and a broad range of stakeholders in the field of migration in the region.

Media Coverage

UNAZERBAİJAN