“Diaspora policy in a country like Moldova needs to begin with economic policy”, stressed Steven Fisher, British Ambassador to Moldova, speaking at online policy dialogue on International Remittances Day.

At the event, the IOM-UNDP Joint Roadmap for Moldova was officially presented. It is the result of increased collaboration between the two organizations, under the UNDP-IOM global cooperation initiative. This aims to increase joint programming and fundraising, mobilizing further interest and funds from international partners to extend equal opportunities to Moldovan migrants, their families, and specific vulnerable groups of the population, to successfully address and mitigate the immediate and medium-term adverse social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also aims to address the negative drivers of migration and support green transition in Moldova.

The open Policy dialogue gathered many stakeholders and experts from all over the world in the field of migration, including Moldovan government agencies, academic institutions, international financial institutions, the private sector, and more. 

US-based Senior Fellow and Co-Founder of the Migration Policy Institute, Kathleen Newland, was keynote speaker in the event’s first of three panels. She underscored that "diaspora outreach efforts need to be constantly setting the conditions: what is working, what is not, constantly looking at the results, whether they are efficient, really making a difference in the lives of people.”

In his concluding remarks IOM Chief of Mission to Moldova, Lars Johan Lonnback, stated: "We feel that we are really not alone, but part of a large community interested in collaborating with the government and taking this roadmap forward.”