Prague Process Action Plan adopted for 2012-2016

The adoption of the Prague Process Action Plan by the fifty partner countries of the Prague Process was the primary goal of a conference held in Poznań on 4^th November.
 
The 2^nd Prague Process Ministerial Conference, titled Building Migration Partnerships in Action, was conducted within the framework of the Polish EU Presidency.
 
The Prague Process Action Plan for the years 2012-2016 contains a list of 22 priorities intended to stimulate cooperation in the areas of migration between the Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Western Balkans, Georgia, Turkey and Central Asian countries.
 
A Joint Declaration, adopted in April 2009 during a Ministerial Conference of Prague Process countries (then known as Building Migration Partnerships), became the point of departure for the plan.
 
The Poznań conference was attended by delegations representing 47 Prague Process countries, the European Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council as well as collaborating regional and international organisations.
 
The participants considered ways of preventing and countering illegal migration, encouraging re-admissions, voluntary returns and lasting re-integration. Other topics included the promotion of legal migration and mobility with particular reference to gainful migration, promotion of the integration of legal immigrants, treatment of migration and mobility as positive development forces and enhancement of the asylum capabilities of host countries and their international protection.
 
The three plenary sessions devoted to six priority areas of cooperation amongst Prague Process countries gave the delegations a good opportunity to share their experiences and present their governments' positions on respective migration-related issues.
 
The Ministerial Conference was preceded by a Senior Officials' Meeting on 3^rd November. Its agenda, in addition to conference-organisation matters, included the presentation of the Core Group - an advisory body set up to assist with the implementation of the Action Plan. The meeting participants also discussed four priority objectives of the Plan scheduled for launching in January 2012.
 
The Conference was accompanied by a topical exhibition arranged by the International Organisation for Migration, which is marking its 60^thanniversary this year.

 
Artur Koziołek
Presidency Spokesperson at the Ministry of the Interior and Administration