On 12 July, 2021, the 10th meeting of the Return and Reintegration Forum took place. The meeting was organised by the Migration Service of Armenia in cooperation with ICMPD/ERRIN.
The meeting gathered around 30 participants from State institutions (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Migration Service of Armenia), international organizations (OFII Representation in Armenia, ICMPD office in Armenia - ERRIN Armenia), and local non-governmental organisations (Qualified Smart Assistance NGO, People in Need NGO, Armenian Foundation for Sustainable Development, BIRD NGO) were present at the meeting.
Armen Ghazaryan, head of RA MTAI Migration Service, conducted the forum opening, which was proceeded by a brief presentation of the RA Government decision N801-L dated 20 May 2021 "On approving the Concept and Action Plan of RA State Migration Management". Afterwards, Carel Hofstra, head of the ICMPD Armenia briefly presented the new component of ICMPD/ERRIN project, which aims at strengthening the human and technical capacities of the Migration Service of Armenia. Two new experts, an associate project officer and a psychologist, that were contracted for the implementation of the new "Capacity development" component of the project were introduced to the partners.
During the meeting, the head of French office of Immigration and Integration (OFII), Hugues Gebhardt, who presented the OFII works in Armenia, most importantly in the sphere of return and reintegration of Armenian citizens from France. The presentations were followed by a round table discussion by the meeting participants. The participants exchanged the challenges that their organisations face when providing services to the returnees from different countries. A significant part of the discussion concerned the role of state and the projects provided by the Armenian Government in the process of return and reintegration of Armenians.