Wenslus Murape
Theseus Shambare
THE International Organisation for Migration (IOM) director-general, Ms Amy Pope, is scheduled to arrive in Zimbabwe tomorrow for a three-day working visit.
During her stay, Ms Pope, who is the first woman to lead IOM in its 73-year history, will meet President Mnangagwa and also engage with various stakeholders on migration issues.
Initially, she was only scheduled to transit through the country after attending the third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries in Botswana, slated for December 10-13.
However, cancellation of the conference opened an opportunity for her to visit Harare, where she will be briefed on Zimbabwe’s significant progress in migration policy implementation.
During the visit, she will also take part in early commemorations of the International Migrants Day on Tuesday.
The day is celebrated on December 18 each year.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Mr Simon Masanga confirmed the visit.
“Next week Monday (tomorrow), we are receiving and will be hosting Ms Amy Pope, who is the director-general of the International Migration Organisation,” he said.
“Initially, we did not anticipate this visit.
“After the Botswana conference was cancelled, we assumed she would no longer be able to come.
“However, Ms Pope expressed a strong interest in visiting Zimbabwe to learn more about our efforts in managing migration challenges.
“We have many migration-related issues and recently, Cabinet approved the migration policy for the country.”
One of the significant milestones recorded by the country relating to migration was implementation of the Labour Migration Policy, which facilitated deployment of Zimbabwean teachers to Rwanda under a bilateral agreement.
“We have also renovated migrant reception centres in Plumtree and Beitbridge to make sure that the children who are intercepted, undocumented children who cross into Botswana to join their parents who are working there or South Africa, are properly accommodated whilst we make efforts to reunite them with their parents,” added Mr Masanga.
“So, these significant strides that we have made, together with the establishment of migrant resource centres in Harare and Bulawayo, have attracted the head of the IOM to visit the country.”
Ms Pope’s itinerary includes a meeting with President Mnangagwa and discussions with other Government officials and various stakeholders.
daniel chigunwe
