The 2022 Pacific Labour Mobility Annual Meeting (PLMAM), held on 7 - 10 November 2022 in Apia, Samoa, reached consensus among 14 countries on agreed regional labour mobility priorities for FY2023/24. A range of initiatives were collectively identified, aimed at increasing development benefits for participating countries while addressing identified risks. The 2022 PLMAM Outcomes Document summarises the agreed decisions derived from dialogue during the four-day meeting.

The PACER Plus Arrangement on Labour Mobility (ALM), which provides for the PLMAM, is a regional framework for labour mobility cooperation.

The agreed outcomes from the PLMAM are regional activities that address common issues raised by participating countries and stakeholders. These agreed activities include the development of processes for worker welfare and well-being to address welfare risks in sending and receiving countries; development of a cultural framework to assist employers increase their understanding of cultural differences; development of a worker education framework to foster the systematic development of worker skills; development of a reintegration strategy to guide the integration of returning workers into local labour markets; and inclusive consultations between labour sending and receiving countries to align labour mobility opportunities with supply priorities and capacities in sending countries so as to address skills drain risks. 

The regional priorities inform the labour mobility annual plan of the PACER Plus Implementation Unit (PPIU) for 2023/24, where they will be implemented in collaboration with relevant regional and international organisations. The PPIU's role in Pacific labour mobility is to facilitate the implementation of the ALM by contributing to the creation of an enabling labour mobility environment in the Pacific through effective regional cooperation.

Along with the regional activities generated from the PLMAM, the PPIU also provides support at the national level to participating countries in the areas of: advancing knowledge sharing and cooperation; improving policy and institutional frameworks; identifying and promoting new opportunities including for semi-skilled and skilled labour mobility; and increasing the development benefits of labour mobility while mitigating risks such as negative social impacts and brain drain. 

Held on an annual basis, the PPIU, as Labour Mobility Secretariat, will continue to work with participating countries to increase the effectiveness of the PLMAM in advancing regional labour mobility cooperation through inclusive dialogues amongst all stakeholders.

The 2023 PLMAM will be held in Port Vila, Vanuatu where progress against the 2022 Outcome Statement will be discussed, and new priorities and activities identified.

To view the full 2022 PLMAM Outcomes Document, please click here.

-ENDS-

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