Ministerial Consultation - ManilaSecond Labour Migration Ministerial Consultation for Countries of Origin in Asia
September 23- 24 2004, Manila, The PhilippinesThe Second Ministerial Meeting was preceded by a meeting of senior officials on September 22, 2004. One of the important aims of the second Consultation was to provide a forum for Asian labour sending countries to review and monitor the implementation of recommendations of the Colombo Consultations and identify further steps for action.

Participants from the main sending countries in Asia, namely Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam were invited. Afghanistan was invited to participate as an observer. Each of the country delegations comprised of a Minister, who is responsible for foreign employment in the respective country or a high level representative, and two or more senior government officials. The International Labour Organization (ILO), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Department for International Development (DFID), U.K. and regional experts were invited to participate as well.

The participating States identified measures as being conducive to the effective management of labour migration programmes and furthered the recommendations made at Colombo on April 2, 2003.