ADDRESS BY SIR JOHN R. KAPUTIN SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC GROUP OF STATES (ACP) AT THE 3RD GLOBAL FORUM ON MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT 4 – 5 November 2009 Athens,Greece Madam Chairperson, It is a great honour for the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States to participate in the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development. The ACP Group, comprising 79 States with a combined population of more than 730 million, is committed to actively participate in the global debate on migration, and indeed to promote the migration-development nexus. This Forum is unique, and provides an excellent platform for developed and developing countries to have real dialogue on the linkages between migration and development. The ACP Group has as one of its core objectives the alleviation of poverty. This objective, coupled with the promotion of sustainable development, is also at the heart of our Cotonou Partnership Agreement with the European Union, which interlocks 105 countries and represents the most advanced and innovative formalised North-South development cooperation arrangement. Your Excellencies, Today, our world is being affected by great shocks, shocks that require urgent response and action. These global issues – climate change, pandemics, migration, natural disasters, and the food, commodity, financial and energy crises – have an impact on developed and developing countries – no one is immune to their impacts. Like never before, we need political will, good leadership, effective action and dynamic change with a sense of urgency – the time has come to construct a multi-dimensional, multi-stakeholder and all-inclusive approach to these global challenges. Let us bring results and delivery through change and improved policies, and create hope and opportunities for people in the 21st century. Only then will we be on the path to sustainable development and the eradication of extreme poverty. I am convinced that migration can be one of the vehicles to contribute to those ideals. Migration and innovation are inter-linked, and the time has come for innovative, people-centred policies to contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Our interconnected world of nearly 7 billion people need, like never before, transformational and collective leadership in the world. As I have said, this Forum is unique. Let us use this Forum as the launching pad for a genuine and inclusive partnership that will promote equality, transparency, inclusiveness, joint-decision making, home grown initiatives and ownership in development cooperation. Your Excellencies, The ACP Group of States acknowledges that mobility is a fundamental freedom of ACP nationals and an integral part of the process of sustainable human development. In this framework, the ACP Group of States aims to promote a relationship between mobility and development that puts more emphasis on the development side of the equation, safeguarding the individual right to move and search for livelihoods in a safe and ordered manner. The ACP Group considers the objectives of the Forum as a high priority for the development agenda of its States, and through its active participation wishes to contribute in a substantive manner by sharing experiences and best practices. To this end, we have created an all-ACP Migration Facility and an ACP Migration Observatory to develop people-centred migration and mobility policies, as well as a platform where research, ideas and information can be shared and exchanged that will also allow for informed policy formulation. Furthermore, the time has come to untie development aid from migration policies. Let us include sustainable migration management in Poverty Reduction Strategy Policies. Your Excellencies, All of these activities, proposals and dialogues manifest the ACP Group’s commitment to addressing the critical issues of migration in relation to development policies for the benefit of all. We are convinced that our close collaboration with Governments, International and Regional Organisations, and Civil Society present at this Forum, will result in coherent policies and programmes that are in the interest of all parties involved, and most importantly, all of our peoples. Thank you.
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