The meeting of the Eastern Partnership Panel on Migration and Asylum was held at the Ministry of Interior on 5-6 March 2015. The title of the event was Panel Meeting on Migration Data Management and Migration Trends.

The meeting was organised jointly by Hungary and Moldova, in cooperation with the European Commission, the Swedish Migration Board and the Kiev office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Following the opening of Dr Krisztina Berta, Deputy State Secretary for EU and International Affairs of the Ministry of Interior, attendees reviewed the EU legislation relating to the management of migration data and the practices of EU Member States and Eastern Partnership countries. The meeting looked into the methods employed for the collection, processing and analysis of migration and asylum data and the process of the inception of evidence-based policies.

Participants discussed the issue of personal data protection in the context of migration and asylum, reviewed the possibilities for forecasting migration trends, and gained an insight into the specifics of the latest migration trends. As part of the meeting, attendees had the opportunity to visit the Office of Immigration and Nationality and to acquaint themselves with migration data management systems in practice.

Attendees of the meeting included experts from Eastern Partnership countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Ukraine) and EU Member States. In addition to public sector actors, the representatives of international organisations, prominent figures from the realm of science, and private sector actors were also present.

Information in English may be found on the activities and earlier meetings of the Eastern Partnership Panel on Migration and Asylum at the following link: http://eapmigrationpanel.org/.

(Ministry of Interior)