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I would like to welcome you to today's first of a series of meetings planned, during which civil society will have the opportunity to have its say and contribute to the formulation of the final Action Plan for the Integration and Social Inclusion of Migrants, for the three-year period 2024-2026. Social inclusion and integration issues are a particularly sensitive and humanitarian aspect of migration, which both the European Union and the Republic of Cyprus take seriously into account when designing policies.
It is in the context of these commitments and obligations that in our comprehensive policy for the effective management of migration, which focuses on axes such as reducing migration flows, increasing returns and improving infrastructures, we have included the implementation of a comprehensive policy for the effective management of migration. To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with all relevant Ministries, Agencies and Departments, has developed a comprehensive Action Plan with 50 actions, based on five pillars.
The policies that have been co-formulated relate to the areas of housing, employment, skills improvement, health and education. The actions under each pillar form the links in a chain, each complementing and covering the other to achieve the desired result. By way of example, I would like to mention the Greek language learning programmes in the education section, which in turn help third-country nationals to respond adequately to the skills development programmes, which consequently facilitate their access to the labour market and their integration into society as a whole.
At the same time, the proper preparation of immigrants for their smooth integration into the social, economic and cultural life of our country is an essential factor in fostering a culture of acceptance by the native population, which is an equally important objective for a government.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A week ago, we had the opportunity with the Ministers responsible to inform the Vice-President of the European Commission about the Action Plan, while earlier in January I also informed the European Commissioner for Home Affairs about it. Both European Commission officials welcomed the will and intention of the Government to include in its migration strategy actions for the integration and inclusion of migrants.
The Action Plan that will be presented below has been developed after a long consultation between the relevant Ministries. In the context of participatory democracy and active citizenship, we consider the feedback we will receive from civil society to be crucial in order to shape the final Plan. The contributions submitted by citizens themselves and other stakeholders will undoubtedly be a valuable tool for us in formulating and implementing policies for the integration and inclusion of people with a migrant background.
I would like to assure you that the proposals that we will record during the public consultation will be thoroughly studied in order to make the most of them for the implementation of an Action Plan that will have tangible and substantial results.
Thank you for your attention.
(MKE)
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