Tirana – As part of the ‘Regional Support to Protection-Sensitive Migration Management in the Western Balkans and Turkey’ project, on 24 April 2019, IOM organised a Regional experience-sharing and discussion workshop in Tirana. The aim of this workshop was to present the final version of the Regional Platform for Non-Personal Data Exchange in the Western Balkans (WB – MIDEX) and discuss the development of the national Road Maps on Migration Statistics. The workshop gathered migration statistics experts from the Western Balkan Ministries of Interior/Security, MARRI Participants’ Statistical Agencies, representatives from MARRI RC, Frontex, EASO, UNHCR as well as IOM IPA II project staff.
IOM Regional IPA II Project Manager Donatella Bradic and MARRI Programme Manager Aleksandar Todosiev addressed the workshop participants. During the opening remarks, Todosiev stressed that “IOM is supporting MARRI to develop its capacity as a provider of specific services which are currently lacking in the region, including migration data exchange and extra-regional language interpretation. As a result, MARRI is better able to support its Participants in their commitment to exchange migration-related statistics and to align their migration management systems and legislation with the EU Acquis”.
The WB – MIDEX Platform is to be hosted and administered by MARRI RC, under a joint ownership of the six MARRI Participants. It will facilitate regular exchange of official and comparable migration statistics among the MARRI Participants, which is a key requirement for the EU-accession negotiations on migration statistics under Chapter 18. Once the Platform becomes operational, MARRI RC will be capacitated to compile and analyse the data shared by its Participants and to produce analytical reports outlining the trends and developments on migration and international protection in the Western Balkans.