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ICMPD opens office in Malta

Xinhua, May 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) launched its Coordination and Cooperation Centre for Migration in the Mediterranean on Wednesday in Floriana, Malta.

Maltese foreign affairs minister George W. Vella, and Michael Spindelegger, director-general of ICMPD, presided the inauguration.

Welcoming the setting up of the center, Vella emphasized the importance of the active involvement of ICMPD in helping to deal with one of the most pressing issues facing the EU: migration and forced displacement.

Vella said Malta was honored that ICMPD chose the country for its first regional office. He also highlighted the importance of this development in light of a possible reactivation of the Central Mediterranean migration route.

Spindelegger, the former minister for foreign affairs and vice chancellor of Austria, said the new office would benefit from the experience and contacts Malta had built over the past years.

Spindelegger said the opening of ICMPD's first regional office in Malta highlighted the organisation's concerns about migration issues in the Mediterranean.

He stated that together with local and international partners, ICMPD would bring a valuable contribution to finding solutions and advancing new policies in the migration field in Europe.

ICMPD was founded to serve as a support mechanism for informal consultations and provide expertise and services on migration and asylum issues. Endit