First Ministerial Consultation

The First Ministerial Consultations for labour sending countries in Asia was organized by International Organization for Migration on 1 – 2 April 2003 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The meeting was hosted by the Government of Sri Lanka. The Ministerial Consultation aimed to provide a forum for Asian labour sending countries to share experiences, discuss issues and identify steps for follow-up in the form of recommendations.

Ministers holding portfolios relating to foreign employment and senior officials from the main sending countries in Asia, namely Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, were invited to participate along with representatives from the International Labour Organization and other resource persons.

The discussions were organized around three broad thematic areas: protection of migrant workers and services to migrant workers; optimizing benefits of organized labour migration; and institutional capacity building and interstate cooperation. Upon its conclusion, the participating states identified several measures conducive to the effective management of labour migration programmes.