EMN Conference on Migration of Qualified Workers from Third Countries: Policies and Practice, Bratislava, 20 November 2013

Slovak and foreign experts from Bratislava, Brussels, London, Prague and Vienna gave a presentation at the conference entitled Migration of Qualified Workers from Third Countries: Policies and Practice which was held in Bratislava on 20 November 2013. Invited speakers introduced the recent developments and policies in international as well as European labour migration. They also described measures which were implemented by the European countries in order to attract qualified workers from states outside the EU. The conference was hosted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as the coordinator of the EMN National Contact Point for the Slovak Republic.

Following the welcome speech by Zuzana Vatralova, head of IOM Office in the Slovak Republic, and Martina Janikova from the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, key findings of the OECD International Migration Outlook 2013 were presented by Martina Lubyova from the Institute for Forecasting of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. She focused on economic and fiscal impact of migration as well as on recently implemented policies related to qualified labour migrants.

Martin Kahanec from Central European Labour Studies Institute located in Bratislava informed about the outcomes of a project dealing with migration of Eastern Partnership workers into EU labour markets. Based on the project outcomes such migration can be viewed positively especially when it is linked to liberal migration policy.

Andrea Frkanova as the Slovak EMN representative introduced labour migration policies enacted in Slovakia as well as the main findings of the EMN study on Attracting Highly Qualified and Qualified Third-Country Nationals to the Slovak Republic. The study concluded that Slovakia has not had much experience in this area so far. Afterwards, Petra van Nierop from Brussels EMN service provider presented the outcomes of the synthesis report on the same topic but referring to all EU Member States plus Norway.

The conference also featured a panel discussion on national labour migration policies, measures and good practices in attracting qualified migrants from third countries based on labour market needs in three EU Member States with different approaches – Austria, Czech Republic and United Kingdom. Discussion was led by the IOM representative Theresa Bittmann, Czech Ministry of Interior representative Ondrej Brychta and Tom Bucke from the UK Home Office Science.

The conference was attended by more than 70 participants representing various ministries, state institutions, research institutes, non-governmental organisations, embassies, employers’ associations and private companies. The participants welcomed the conference materials, an opportunity to gain new contacts and learn more about the EU Member States’ experiences in the field of labour migration.

Conference topic and outcomes were covered by the Slovak media in the following articles and prime-time broadcast: