BUDAPEST PROCESS SECRETARIAT - INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR MIGRATION POLICY DEVELOPMENT

News & Events

Budapest, 3-4 March 2020: The implementation of the Call for Action endorsed in December 2019 kicked off in 2020 with the first dialogue activity addressing Priority Goal 1 of the Call for Action. The Call for Action, which was adopted at the 6th Ministerial Conference of the Budapest Process provides the direction of activities for the next 5 years in six priority areas related to migration including Priority Goal 1 related to countering irregular migration. Experts on return and reintegration gathered for two days  in Budapest, hosted by the Co-Chair of the dialogue, Hungary. The meeting included a panel discussion amongst representatives from Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Pakistan, ERRIN, FRONTEX and the Bali Process. Break-out group discussions followed in three sessions focusing on structural constraints to return and reintegration.

Istanbul, 14-17 December – As part of the ongoing activity to expand the labour migration rules and regulations of Iraq, ICMPD and Iraq’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MOLSA) conducted a training for 19 MOLSA officials and three representatives from the Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) based in Baghdad. The participating MOLSA officials came from different departments in charge of skills and vocational training, international relations, labour inspection, planning, information management and licensing.

Istanbul, 8-10 February 2020 – Seventeen officials from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan met for three days with experts from ICMPD in Istanbul, Turkey, to discuss and learn about labour migration management. A representative from the Migrant Resource Centre MRC in Kabul also participated in the training.

Istanbul, 13 - 16 December 2019: Good migration reporting requires migration knowledge. To help ensure such migration coverage in Iraq and Pakistan, ICMPD organised a “Media & Migration workshop” from 13-16 December 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey. After a competitive selection process with over 120 applications in total, fifteen journalists from Pakistan and ten journalists from Iraq had been selected to attend the three-day workshop.

Ankara, 26-27 November 2019 – For two days ten law enforcement officials from Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey gathered with experts from ICMPD and the UK to discuss regional and bilateral law enforcement cooperation via existing international cooperation tools to counter irregular migration, human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Istanbul, 4-5 December 2019: Over 80 senior officials from 37 countries gathered for the annual Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the Budapest Process to jointly finalise the Budapest Process Strategic Document and Implementation Plan ( based on the Call for Action – a five year plan for 2020-2024). This document  provides a direction and framework for the next years of activities and remains a living document, which will be updated as needed.

Skopje, 9-10 October 2019: More than 90 delegates from 37 countries gathered in Skopje for the Joint Meeting of three Regional Working Groups to strategically prepare for the next five years. Deputy Minister of Interior of North Macedonia, Agim Nuhiu, officially opened the meeting and welcomed all participants, followed by State Secretary Magdalena Nestorovska who highlighted the importance of this meeting as the first gathering since the 6th Ministerial Conference in February 2019 in Istanbul. 

How can a government address a broad variety of more than sixty challenges identified in the area of migration? Which migration governance and management issues need to be tackled first, and how are they linked to each other? What governance structures and legal frameworks are in place, and how can they be improved?

Legal and labour migration are central topics for Pakistan and have been identified as a priority by the current government. As part of the overall support structure for intending and outgoing migrants, and with support of ICMPD, Pakistan’s Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (MOPHRD) and the Department of Labour Punjab host and run the Migrant Resource Centres (MRCs) in Islamabad and Lahore. They provide counselling, community awareness raising, pre-departure orientation and information on education and work opportunities abroad to students. This shall help empower people to take informed decisions on their migration trajectory. 

Istanbul 19-20 February: The Budapest Process held its 6th Ministerial Conference in Istanbul on 19-20 February 2019, gathering 46 participating countries, the European Commission, European institutions and 10 regional and international organisations. The event was hosted by Turkey and chaired by H.E. Süleyman Soylu, Turkish Minister of Interior.

20 Ministers as well as the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Mr. Dimitris Avramopoulos, and 15 Deputy Ministers and States Secretaries took part in the conference.

Ankara, 23-24 January 2019: How do you best collect, collate, develop and safely share data on irregular migration? This was the topic of a two-day meeting, which brought twenty-four officials from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey, together with experts from ICMPD in Ankara, Turkey. It is also the core function of the Regional Law Enforcement Cooperation (RELEC) and the meeting’s objective was to learn, exchange experiences and raise awareness among the gathered National Contact Points (NCPs) who represented the RELEC partner countries.

Sarajevo, 7-8 May 2018 : To further discuss the topic of return and reintegration, 60 participants from 29 countries, gathered on 7 and 8 May 2018 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. During this Joint meeting of the Silk Routes and the South East Europe Working Groups, Iraq and Afghanistan presented the reintegration policies in their countries. Representatives from academia and independent bodies (Samuel Hall and the University of Koç) shared their perspectives and research conclusions for successful reintegration, presenting concrete examples, like the situation of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

Antalya, 15 December 2017: As the monitoring and steering body of the Budapest Process, the annual Senior Officials Meeting reported on the activities in 2016, including the meetings of the Silk Routes Working Group and the Silk Routes Partnership Project and presented a five-year proposal for the 2017 - 2021 cooperation framework.