The lack of an efficient and systematic mechanism for sharing data and information on migration in Europe and in particular a lack of comparable data was addressed at a regional roundtable in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, last week.

AOrganized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in cooperation with the Moldovan Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Interior, the two day event on 26-27 October, gathered representatives from stakeholders dealing with migration data collection and exchange from various EU member states and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and Israel.

As well as assessing existing databases and systems for information gathering, the meeting discussed the possibilities of establishing a Pan European mechanism on migration data which would facilitate decision making on migration policies and contribute to a durable system for managing migration flows between EU member states and other European countries.

David Reisenzein, IOM Vienna Head of Programmes stated at the press conference dedicated to this event that it is necessary that the Republic of Moldova collaborates as closely as possible with the destination countries of its labour force, in order to obtain accurate data and to provide exact information about the number of citizens officially working abroad. "This fact will allow the European Union and the Republic of Moldova to more efficiently manage migration flows", added IOM representative.

The participants in the roundtable drafted recommendations and conclusions regarding concrete activities that should be undertaken by the states participating in the Pan-European Dialogue on migration management aiming to facilitate data and information exchange in this field.

The meeting was organized as part of a Pan European Dialogue on Migration Management, a multilateral platform for dialogue between the EU and the ENP launched by IOM in January 2006 in Brussels with the support of the Belgian government and the European Commission in recognition of the fact that migration management cannot be dealt with as a purely internal issue by individual countries.