Sweden encourages Moldovan migrants to return home

The Moldovans working abroad and those that intend to go abroad will be provided with information and assistance as part of the project “Strengthening Moldova’s Capacity to Manage Labor and Return Migration” implemented by the Swedish Employment Agency in cooperation with the relevant Moldovan authorities. The project is part of the Mobility Partnership with the EU, Info-Prim Neo reports. The major objectives of the project launched on May 14 are: to make the Moldovan migrants return home and to provide information to those that want to go abroad to work. The three-year project contains 29 actions that will be carried out by the National Employment Agency of Moldova and other authorities, including Moldova’s consular offices abroad. Project director Per Lindberg told a news conference on Thursday that the Moldovan citizens must use all the legal migration channels, but not before obtaining information about the job offers in Moldova. The outgoing Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Sergiu Sainciuc said that the project meets the objectives of the government’s activity program. “The project will help improve the social protection of the citizens working legally abroad,” the deputy minister said. According to Moldova’s consular offices abroad, about 100-120 Moldovans apply for travel permits every month, but not all of them return home from the EU member states, he added. Sainciuc also said that there is no system that could provide information about the persons that come back home from abroad. “According to the data for the fourth quarter of 2008, over 50,000 persons were out of work in Moldova. But the number of persons that appeal to the National Employment Agency has increased.” “I think that we can maximize the development potential and positive effects of migration for the benefit of all those interested, especially migrants,” said Minna Ljunggren, Deputy Minister and Secretary of State on Migration and Asylum at the Ministry of Justice of Sweden. Wolfgang Behrendt, head of the Policy and Economy Division of the European Commission’s Delegation to Moldova, said that the project is fully compliant with the Commission’s migration policy. “The project is implemented at an opportune moment given the difficult economic situation in the world. The European Commission will allocate 3 million euros to support this project,” Behrendt said. Mobility partnerships are new instruments designed to give practical expression to the partnership between the European Union and third countries. The Republic of Cape Verde and the Republic of Moldova are the first two countries with which the Union entered into such a commitment in June 2008. The projects that form part of the EU-Moldova Mobility Partnership are aimed at strengthening the relations with the Moldovan communities, promoting the return and reintegration of Moldovan migrants, strengthening the institutional capacities in such areas as migration management, investment of remittances, border control and document security, social projection, fight against illegal migration and human trafficking.