ZAGREB, Croatia – The Workshop on Labour Migration for Integration and Development in Western Balkans was held in Zagreb on 22-24 February 2006. This event was organised by the Migration Asylum and Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI), in close cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and funded by the Government of the United Kingdom. It gathered representatives from the Governments of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, while presentations were held by IOM, UK and regional experts.
The Workshop serves as a platform for discussions for the further development of policies and programmes on migration within/from the Western Balkans, in a spirit of positively implicating their economic and employment dimensions while contributing to combating possible irregular movements.
Discussions included both the analysis of possibilities for intraregional labour migration and the analysis of the impact of labour migration from the region to third countries at both ends of the migration spectrum. Special emphasis is granted to: brain drain and its impact on societies and economies in Western Balkans; diasporas and their contribution to social and economic development in Western Balkans; irregular employment in and out outside the region; possible labour migration schemes to be reinforced and initiated in Western Balkans.