This event was the fruit of an intensive dialogue of EMN Belgium, Enabel and IOM Belgium and Luxembourg with local, regional, national and European stakeholders that are involved in the development of Skills Mobility Partnerships. The conference brought together over 250 stakeholders, both private and public actors, to discuss the policy and practice regarding Skills Mobility. 

The event was organised over two days, centred on the concept of Talent Partnerships as a whole, and Skills Mobility Partnerships in particular.

On the first day, an EMN Roundtable facilitated a meaningful policy debate. We learned that Skills Mobility in the EU cannot work without involving all the different stakeholders in the process of the design and implementation of the Partnerships. More than anything, we learned that ‘employers, employers and employers’, as well as the third country-nationals must be involved.

A presentation by the EPRS showed that designing more holistic economic migration policies can bring a net benefit to both the EU’s GDP ánd the salaries of national and migrant workers, as well as improving the latter’s fundamental rights. 

Please check out below the conference videos of the first day:

On the second day, the focus shifted towards the practical implementation on the national level, specifically in Belgium. We learned that, to make Skills Mobility a reality on the national level, more testing needs to be done, to design ‘ecosystems’ that allow for the implementation of flexible models that provide benefits for all stakeholders involved.

We also heard critical voices from the audience that focused on the lack of a bottom-up approach in the design of the partnerships, a lack of societal and political will and the lack of involvement of migrants in the discussions.  

The conference videos of the second day can be found here:

After two days of discussing ‘Skills Mobilty’, ‘Talent’ and ‘Global Skills Partnerships’, EMN Belgium, Enabel and IOM Belgium and Luxembourg would like to warmly thank all speakers and participants for their active participation and to make this event a success! 

Photos of the conference can be found by clicking here.

Please find below the conference documents.