Morocco-Spain: Temporary Economic Migration as a Contribution to Development
5 November 2008
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At the first World Forum on Migration and Development, held from July 9-11 in Brussels, Morocco co-chaired a roundtable on "Temporary economic migration as a contribution to development" with Spain. The Moroccan delegation was represented by Youssef Amrani, Director General of Bilateral Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
• L’Economiste: You recently participated in the 1st World Forum on Migration and Development. What is your assessment?
- Youssef Amrani: For Morocco, migration is a matter of shared responsibility among all partners, namely the migrants' country of origin, the transit country, and the destination country. We must therefore work together within the framework of an open and sincere partnership to provide appropriate responses to the migration issue. Yes to security measures, yes to border control, but above all, yes to development. Because without development, we cannot tackle the root causes of migration. Here in Brussels, Morocco has a strong presence because of its experience in the development of legal migration, and more particularly what we call circular migration or temporary migration. The Moroccan-Spanish experience is very well received. It allows participants to see that we can, by working together and with full respect for each other, cooperate in the field of legal migration. Secondly, I observe that migration is now a fundamental element in the European political agenda.
• The question of the return of temporary migrants to their countries of origin has been raised many times. What about Moroccan migrants in Spain?
- They all return to Morocco. Those who go to Spain for temporary work are supported, they have their families at home, and they return to their region, enriched by a work experience. In Morocco, we are open, we have no complexes. In the field of cross-border cooperation, we cooperate with the Spaniards because, in Morocco, we have a clear vision: we must fight against the networks of illegal immigrant smugglers, we must fight against irregular migration, but we must also encourage people to migrate legally, whether they are temporary migrants or students, which is why we advocate for the facilitation of visa issuance.
Published November 13, 2007
L’économiste, July 16, 2007
• L’Economiste: You recently participated in the 1st World Forum on Migration and Development. What is your assessment?
- Youssef Amrani: For Morocco, migration is a matter of shared responsibility among all partners, namely the migrants' country of origin, the transit country, and the destination country. We must therefore work together within the framework of an open and sincere partnership to provide appropriate responses to the migration issue. Yes to security measures, yes to border control, but above all, yes to development. Because without development, we cannot tackle the root causes of migration. Here in Brussels, Morocco has a strong presence because of its experience in the development of legal migration, and more particularly what we call circular migration or temporary migration. The Moroccan-Spanish experience is very well received. It allows participants to see that we can, by working together and with full respect for each other, cooperate in the field of legal migration. Secondly, I observe that migration is now a fundamental element in the European political agenda.
• The question of the return of temporary migrants to their countries of origin has been raised many times. What about Moroccan migrants in Spain?
- They all return to Morocco. Those who go to Spain for temporary work are supported, they have their families at home, and they return to their region, enriched by a work experience. In Morocco, we are open, we have no complexes. In the field of cross-border cooperation, we cooperate with the Spaniards because, in Morocco, we have a clear vision: we must fight against the networks of illegal immigrant smugglers, we must fight against irregular migration, but we must also encourage people to migrate legally, whether they are temporary migrants or students, which is why we advocate for the facilitation of visa issuance.
Published November 13, 2007
L’économiste, July 16, 2007
