𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐮, 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎-𝟐𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: The South Asia Labor Mobility Conference brought together over 150 high-level government officials, practitioners, and partners, from South Asia, East Asia and Pacific, North Africa, and the Caribbean, covering more than 15 origin and host countries to provide a cross-regional learning platform for best practices, as well as to promote collaboration among labor migrant sending and receiving countries. The conference was hosted by Bhutan at a time when the country seeks to tackle growing issues of youth unemployment and unprecedented outmigration.
Organized by the World Bank in collaboration with the Royal Government of Bhutan, the conference was opened by Lyonchhoen Dasho Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister, Royal Government of Bhutan, and Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of Operations, World Bank.
The event featured sessions on global skills partnerships to address international labor mobility and domestic employment; how governments and partners can better support migrants before, during and after their migration journey; the unique challenges and opportunities faced by small states; and the impact of remittances and role of diasporas in supporting development. Panel discussions shared perspectives from host countries on policy options for better skills partnership and support to labor migrants, as well as how sending countries can better leverage the financial flows generated by their diasporas while supporting the reintegration of returnees.
“𝑀𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐵ℎ𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑊𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐵ℎ𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛,” remarked 𝐋𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐩𝐨 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐠𝐚𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐣𝐢, 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 & 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐧. “𝑂𝑢𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑦𝑠, 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠,” he added.
The high-level participation, from South Asia and beyond, symbolized the deep commitment to the labor mobility agenda and support for the spirit of international cooperation and knowledge sharing. The event benefitted immensely from the participation of H.E. Ali Haidar Ahmed, Minister of Higher Education, Labor & Skills Development of the Maldives; H.E. Anil Jayantha Fernando, Minister of Labor of Sri Lanka; H.E. Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, Deputy Chief Minister of the State of Odisha; H.E. Patricia Caunan, Undersecretary of the Department of Migrant Workers of the Philippines, and H.E. Maciej Duszczyk, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Interior & Administration of Poland, among other distinguished policymakers and experts.
“𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙, 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠, 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 “𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒-𝑤𝑖𝑛” 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠, ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑦𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑜𝑧𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠-𝑜𝑛, 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠-𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠,” commented 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐚 𝐎𝐡𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚, 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤.
With labor mobility continuing to be influenced by income gaps and demographic imbalances, the World Bank supports global efforts to promote safe, orderly, and regular labor migration. The South Asia Labor Mobility Conference serves as an initial platform in curating and convening knowledge to better inform policymakers in sending and receiving countries to address this global phenomenon and maximize mutual development gains.
