IOM Director General William Lacy Swing is in India this week at the invitation of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

The visit is his first since India became an IOM member state in June 2008 and he is expected to meet with senior officials from the Ministries of External Affairs, Home Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA).

The visit aims to further strengthen relations between IOM and India and to explore areas of future collaboration in migration management.

IOM and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs have a Memorandum of Understanding which serves as a platform for the joint implementation of programmes and activities enhancing the management and facilitation of overseas employment of Indian workers worldwide.

This includes the joint implementation in India of an IOM programme funded by the European Commission that promotes both regional dialogue and programmes aimed at enhancing managed labour mobility between Asia and the European Union.

Under this programme, IOM and the MOIA will jointly create labour mobility management projects such as the establishment of an Overseas Workers Resource Centre to disseminate information on legal opportunities for potential overseas workers and the implementation of mass information campaigns.

Other ongoing IOM projects in India include an initiative to set up public-private partnerships designed to reintegrate victims of human trafficking into society.

Previous IOM projects in India have included the return of stranded Indian nationals following the first Gulf War in 1991 and provision of transitional shelter and livelihood support for migrant salt workers following the 2001 Gujarat earthquake.

India is one of the world's largest migration economies. In 2010 some 11.4 million people legally left the country to work abroad, while another 5.4 million came to India to work.

According to the World Bank, in 2010 India was the world's largest recipient of migrant worker remittances, receiving USD 55 billion, up from USD 49.6 billion in 2009.

For more information please contact:

Nitin Kumar
IOM New Delhi
Tel: +91 11 24 19 79 90
E-mail: nkumar@iom.int