The meeting started with the presentation of a policy paper on the link between Migration and Development, prepared by the CARDET team. Local stakeholders from NGOs and Universities, were asked to provide feedback on the presentation with approaches from other countries, comments and suggestions on the policy paper regarding the different aspects of migration and development.

Participants elaborated on the various development aspects presented and suggested a number of different perspectives that could be included. Some of the suggestions included participation of local authorities to the process, special focus on EU Migration law, the connection between Human Rights and sustainable development through the EU Human Rights base approach, empowerment of private sector etc. CARDET team will take into consideration the comments and suggestions of the local stakeholders in order to present a complete policy paper on Migration and Development, to be disseminated widely within the next month.

Next agenda item was the upcoming activities of the Network and the international conference organized on 20th June 2014. The next steps of the network were identified with particular focus on the Euro-Med region, the study visit to Malta and how to increase participation and membership in order to trigger even more discussions on migration and turn the MMN to a network of exchange of ideas and good practices between Member States and third countries.

The international conference is currently being organized (20 June 2014) with a number of international guests and the participation of both public and private sector officials.