Skopje – As part of the EU-funded IPA II project ‘Regional Support to Protection-Sensitive Migration Management in the Western Balkans and Turkey’, IOM organized a one-day workshop to present and validate the Regional Platform for Migration Data Exchange in the Western Balkans (WB-MIDEX). The workshop gathered representatives working on migration statistics from MARRI Participants’ Ministries of Interior/Security and National Statistical Agencies. European Commission, Frontex, UNHCR and MARRI RC were also represented at the workshop.
In his introductory statement, MARRI RC Director Sashko Kocev welcomed the support of IOM in improving MARRI Participants’ capacities to exchange and systematize migration data, in line with the EU Acquis. He highlighted that the WB – MIDEX Platform, once operational, will be jointly owned by MARRI Participants and hosted by MARRI RC.
IOM Migration and Asylum Data Expert at MARRI RC Ivan Kochovski added that the lack of regular exchange of official and comparable data on migration has been identified as a key challenge for the Western Balkans region. To address this challenge, IOM is supporting the establishment of a platform for the exchange of non- personal migration related data which is fully compatible with EU standards.
The WB – MIDEX Platform is an online solution where MARRI Participant administrations will exchange official migration data in an EU-compatible format.Upon review for technical and statistical errors, these data will be published on a public web portal. The Platform was developed on the basis of a regional migration data template, which mirrors the templates used by EU Member States to report migration statistics to Eurostat under Regulation (EC) No. 862/2007 on Community statistics on Migration and International Protection. All six MARRI Participants validated the regional template and expressed clear commitment to populate the WB – MIDEX Platform with relevant and useful migration data.
The workshop participants provided feedback and recommendations for further improvement of the WB – MIDEX Platform, with a view to make it more compatible with Western Balkans migration data systems and practices.