Chisinau hosts third Mobility Partnership Meeting

The third Meeting of the Mobility Partnership, which is an EU initiative that offers a flexible framework for implementing cooperation projects in migration, is taking place in Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. The meeting wills assess the results of the 23 projects implemented during the two years after the launch of the initiative. Another 47 projects are being implemented, while ten more will be rolled out soon. The projects are aimed at strengthening Moldova’s capacity of managing migration, working out migration polices and improving the relations with the diaspora, managing the border and securing documents, combating illegal migration and human trafficking. “We do not yet have realistic statistics because migration cannot be assessed so easily, but it seems that this phenomenon became more controllable during the two years after the launch of the Mobility Partnership,” said Frank Paul, a representative of the European Commission Directorate General for Internal Affairs. Frank Paul also said that the Mobility Partnership contributes to an improved dialogue on the liberalization of the visa regime for Moldovan travelers. Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Protection and Family said the Mobility Partnership offers the Moldovans who went abroad to look for a job a unique possibility of legalizing their stays. “It is an efficient instrument that allows us to negotiate agreements on labor migration and social security of the migrants with the partners. We have already signed an agreement on migration with Italy. This year, we started to negotiate a new agreement. The first round was held in May, while the last will take place in December. For the first time, the seasonal migration is being regulated,” he said. Moldova also signed agreement on migrants’ social security with Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, and Luxemburg. Negotiations are being held with the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria, and will be soon opened with Estonia, Belgium and other countries. Moldova’s partners within the Mobility Partnership are 15 EU member states (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania. Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Hungary), the European Commission, FRONTEX, and the European Training Foundation.