IOM Participates in International Conference on Belarus – UN Cooperation

On the 29th of January 2015 Minsk hosted the international conference “Strengthening Belarus–UN Development Cooperation: Results, New Perspectives and Emerging Opportunities” organized jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and the United Nations in Belarus.

Being the partner organization of UN, IOM represented by Renate Held, Regional Director, and Zeynal Hajiyev, Chief of IOM Minsk Mission, actively participated in the conference highly estimating the role of the event in further promotion of cooperation between the international community and the Government of Belarus.

In her speech Renate Held highlighted the significance of migration management issues and as consequence its incorporation into the post-2015 UN development agenda. Regional Director also pointed out the role of IOM in drafting the UNDAF for 2016-2020: “In Belarus IOM has actively participated at all stages and contributed to the drafting of the UNDAF paper, ensuring incorporation and factoring in of migration into the most relevant sections of the document, such as, for instance, Good Governance and Human Capital Development”.

Zeyna Hajiyev, in his turn, also touched upon the importance of the UNDAF document and IOM’s contribution into its development and planning. Besides, Chief of Mission emphasized the partners’ dedication and professionalism displayed during the group meetings.

In general, more than 250 people took part in the conference: representatives of 22 international organization and 10 countries-donors, governmental and non-governmental organizations, private sector, scientific community and religious organizations.

After the conference the participants had an opportunity to attend the exhibition of the achievements of UN agencies and their partners, including IOM.