Within the Programme Migration & Diaspora, implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs and the National Employment Service by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), an exchange was organised with the relevant institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany on the topic „Legal and institutional framework of regular migrations“ in Belgrade, on 29 October. At this meeting, experiences were exchanged between relevant actors in Serbia and Germany with the aim of better information, which contributes to further capacity building of institutions responsible for economic migration in Serbia.
At the opening of the meeting, Mirjana Ćojbašić, Assistant Minister for International Cooperation, emphasised that the mentioned project contributes to cooperation in the field of economic migration, which is very important for achieving a better economic and social environment.
„The Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, within its competencies and by implementing the Strategy on Economic Migration for the period 2021-2027 and the accompanying Action Plan wants to enable building and strengthening of institutional capacities, improvement of living and working conditions, harmonisation of the education system with the needs of the economy, creating conditions for monitoring, encouraging and supporting circulatory and return migrations, as well as creating conditions for more efficient management of internal migration flows“.
Zoran Martinović, Director General of the National Employment Service (NES), pointed out that the most common destinations in Europe are FR Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia and Sweden, when the interests of Serbian citizens as emigrants are considered. As far as the countries outside Europe are concerned, Canada and Australia are the most desirable.
„Through the network of seven Migration Service Centres (MSCs), migrants and people interested in migrating are provided with information on their rights, procedures for obtaining visas, work residence permits, employment opportunities and migration risks, thus contributing to the effective dissemination of information on legal migration flows. Also, one of the activities is the referral of immigrants, returnees by readmission and asylum seekers in the process of integration in Serbia, to the relevant local institutions in order to exercise their rights. During 2019, a total of 775 people benefited from the services by the MSC in the NES“.
The meeting clarified the legal framework for regular migration to the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as the area of international cooperation and the possibility of concluding bilateral agreements in this area.
The GIZ, through the Programmes Migration & Diaspora and Migration for Development, supports the network of seven Migration Service Centres (Belgrade, Niš, Novi Pazar, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, Kruševac, Bor) in the field of counselling and referral on migration, return and reintegration. This network, as part of the National Employment Service, provides advisory services on regular and irregular migration. One of the goals is to improve the information of individuals, with the intention of increasing their chances for employment in the labour market.
The global Programme Migration & Diaspora is being implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), with the aim of partner countries making more use of regular migration and the engagement of the Diaspora to realize their development plans.