National platform on migration inaugurated

A national platform on migration has been established with a pledge by government to pursue a clearly defined and holistic policy direction on migration.

Pursuing such a policy direction will not only enable the country to derive optimum benefits from the positive effects but will also help to minimize the negative migration consequences.

Inaugurating the platform in Accra on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Charles Owiredu, indicated that Ghana cannot afford to ignore migration and its impacts, given the contemporary migration realities and dynamics coupled with the current global processes of urbanization amongst others.

The migration platform has among others the objectives to support the ECOWAS Technical Management Team [TMT] in identifying proposals and assessment as well as monitoring and control of Spain-ECOWAS Fund for Migration Policy projects.

The Platform which is the brain child of a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] between key fund managers including the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and ECOWAS, is to also ensure a steady flow of information between the TMT and the beneficiaries as pertains to implementation of all selected projects.

The Deputy Minister noted that, migration is increasingly recognized as a major human development issue, which if managed effectively could contribute to socio-economic transformation in developed and developing countries.

"... Return migration of Ghanaian professionals and semi-skilled migrants to Ghana is on the increase facilitated by the improved economic conditions and political stability with most returnees going into self-employment and investing in private enterprises," he added.

He also indicated that, remittances became the largest external financial source to Africa, as per a World Bank report in 2012 and that, the brain drain, rapid urbanization and rural-urban migration, pervasive and growing trends in human trafficking have become key factors influencing Ghana's mobility patterns.

Hon. Owiredu commended the Spanish government as well as ECOWAS for the laudable initiative in instituting the Spain-ECOWAS Fund for Migration and Development and reiterated government's support to the platform.