Russia highly rates activity of International Organisation for Migration

The Russian side highly rates the activity of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and comes out for the further development of cooperation with it. Igor Yevdokimov, the head of the Russian delegation at the 84th session of the IOM Council, which ended yesterday evening in Geneva, spoke about it in his interview which he gave to RIA Novosti.

He specially pointed out the importance of the Programme for Migration Policy for Central Asia and China which had been initiated by the IOM. The other day, this Programme has been approved by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Under this programme, which will be financed by the European Union, it is planned to equip the Russian-Kazakh border along all its length.

In the opinion of the Russian side, the carrying out of this part of the Programme will help to regulate the migration flows to Russia /and partially - further to the West/ from South East Asian, African and the Middle Eastern countries. On the whole, said Igor Yevdokimov, the implementation of this project must make it possible to lessen illegal immigration into Russia, in particular, through Kazakhstan, which is often connected with weapons and drugs trafficking and which creates conditions for all kinds of manifestations of international terrorism.

The 84th session of the International Organisation for Migration was attended by delegations from more than eighty IOM member-countries and from over thirty other states, including Russia, which have the status of observers, and also by representatives of specialised agencies of the United Nations and interested international and non-governmental organisations.