Panaji, Dec 2 (IANS) Immigration officials from Europe and Asia have recommended a joint study between the two continents on the phenomenon of illegal migration, a senior Indian official said Wednesday.
G. Gurucharan, joint secretary in the ministry of overseas Indian affairs and conference chairman of the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) conference on Management of Migratory Flows, said that the study would also seek out the etiological causes of the phenomenon of illegal migration and suggest specific measures to mitigate it.

“Members of the 30 ASEM countries will have time till January-end to make specific suggestions and offer their participation. India will be the focal point for receiving recommendations,” Gurucharan told reporters here.

The two-day conference ended here Wednesday.

Gurucharan said that the Goa conference was significant because of a consensus between the delegates of member countries in making ASEM an “action driven platform”.

“It is significant because this is the first time that all the delegates agreed that the ASEM conference should become an action driven platform handling specific actionable projects in cooperation with countries from Asia and Europe,” he said.

The chairman further said that apart from the joint study, the conference had made two other recommendations, which include a pilot project between any two countries for skills training, standardised listing, independent certification and uniform acceptance of skill standards.

“The pilot project will identify skill sets and curriculum in two countries and try out means of standardised tests carried out by a third party,” Gurucharan said, adding that the uniformity would help ease migration formalities across nations.

The ASEM, over the last 12 years, has been the main multilateral channel for communication between Asia and Europe in the area of migration through the conference of the directors general of Immigration.

About 30 delegates from 12 Asian countries and 30 from 18 European countries attended the 8th ASEM conference.

The 9th ASEM conference will be held next year at Brussels, Belgium.