Rabat hosts first ministerial meeting for the global compact for migration

The first ministerial meeting of the champion countries of the implementation of the Marrakech Pact on Migration launched this Friday morning in Rabat.

The meeting is being held in a hybrid format and is attended by leading countries in different continents in the implementation of the UN’s Global Compact on Migration.

This ministerial gathering is “intended to be a platform for exchange, consultation and dialogue on the progress, challenges, and opportunities facing States,” says a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Participating countries “will highlight the commitment of champion countries to the promotion and implementation of the Pact.”

The meeting will culminate in the Rabat Declaration, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The declaration “outlines recommendations by the champion countries, in preparation for the First International Migration Review Forum (IMRF),” scheduled to take place in New York on May 17 through May 20, 2022.

After two years of dialogue and negotiations, the implementation process for the Global Compact for Migration concluded on 10 December 2018 with the adoption of the Global Compact by the majority of UN Member States at an Intergovernmental Conference in Marrakech, Morocco.

Global Compact is the first agreement negotiated at the intergovernmental level, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, covering all dimensions of international migration in today’s world.

Today’s meeting “is an affirmation of the Kingdom of Morocco’s leadership in the field of migration at the global and continental levels,” according to a press release from the Ministry.

Morocco, a country directly involved in global migratory issues, has been a hub of migration initiatives, such as the African Agenda on Migration, a roadmap for the management of migration in Africa, and the African Migration Observatory, inaugurated in 2020 in the Kingdom’s capital.