Regional Secretariat of the Presidency says the Azores are the “right choice” for the main world conference on migrations
André Bradford stated before the members of the Metropolis Executive Committee - the main international conference on migration - in The Hague on Wednesday that the designation of the Azores for the organisation of that event in 2011 “was the right and natural choice either by the path followed by our communities spread throughout the world or by the impact of the public policies implemented by the Regional Government in this area on other regions of the world.”
During the reception that marked the beginning of the preparations for the organisation of the 16th Metropolis World Conference to be held in September 2011, the Regional Secretary of the Presidency reminded those attending the event the history of the Azores and its close relation with phenomenon of migrations, stressing that it will be an hour for the Region to host the most important international meeting on this subject.
The Metropolis Conference annually gathers nearly 700 world experts (political representatives, scholars, members of international organisations) to debate public policies and the new dimensions of migrations at an international, national and local level. The event was already held in the cities of Bonn, Copenhagen, Washington and Sydney, among others.
For the first time in 2011, this conference will take place in an archipelago and its organisation in the Azores will also mark the opening of new issues under discussion, with special emphasis on the impacts of migrations in the communities of origin, the maintenance of relations between them and the phenomenon of diaspora.