OREANDA-NEWS. On 19-20 March the Annual Conference of the European Migration Network “Attracting and Retaining Talent in Europe” will take place at the National Library of Latvia, Riga. The conference will be opened by the Latvian Minister for the Interior, Rihards Kozlovskis.

The conference highlights one of the priorities set by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in the context of migration. This envisages development of a legal migration policy designed to make Europe one of the most popular destinations for migrants, thus addressing the demographic challenges that Europe is likely to face in the future. At the same time, this will be the first event to present preliminary findings from the study “Admitting third-country nationals for business purposes” developed by the European Migration Network.

“Well-managed migration policy can be considered as a way of boosting economic growth and competitiveness, addressing labour market shortages and offsetting the costs of demographic ageing in the EU,” said Rihards Kozlovskis.

The conference will be divided into five panel discussions: global challenges and competition over talent; the European Union's readiness to attract talented migrants in competition with other countries; the European Union and national policies to attract talent; the role of a welcoming culture in retaining talent; and the perspective of migrants and their countries of origin.

The conference will be attended by high-level officials including William Lacy Swing, IOM Director General and Belinda Pyke, the Director of Directorate B (Migration and Mobility) at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, as well as migration experts from the Member States, representatives from the European Union institutions, researchers, and scientists and experts from New Zealand, Canada and India.

The conference is organised by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, as the Latvian Contact Point for the European Migration Network, in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs at the European Commission.