The sixth Pacific Annual Labour Mobility Meeting (PLMAM) 2022 was held in Apia, Samoa from 7-10 November 2022.

Hosted by the Government of Samoa, this year’s PLMAM is the first in-person meeting following the hybrid-mode PLMAM in 2021. The 2022 PLMAM was attended by over 150 delegates from government, private sector, non-government actors, international agencies, and stakeholders in the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Timor Leste to discuss labour mobility priorities in the region.

PLMAM is provided under the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus Arrangement on Labour Mobility as a mechanism to advance regional labour mobility cooperation.

“The significance of the PLMAM lies in the opportunity to bring the region together to discuss issues and come up with solutions to address these issues as a collective.  As we heard this week, labour mobility is not just a development initiative but also an economic initiative for both labour sending and receiving countries,” said Mr Roy Lagolago, Head of PACER Plus Implementation Unit.

“The PLMAM effectively provides the preeminent opportunity for open and inclusive dialogues that can advance the level of cooperation needed to enhance the benefits of labour mobility in the Pacific,” said Mr Lagolago.

The theme of the 2022 PLMAM is “Reinvigorating Labour Mobility Cooperation for Development” and is an opportunity for Pacific labour mobility stakeholders to re-engage, reset, and re-commit to advancing effective regional cooperation.

The 2022 PLMAM generated stimulating inclusive dialogues on current labour mobility opportunities and challenges and identified regional solutions and concrete actions for 2023/24.

The alternate Chair of the final PLMAM Dialogue, Pulotu Lyndon Chu Ling, CEO of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Labour concluded by saying that “whilst the recently discussed recommendations in today’s session for more workshops, technical talanoas and additional staff of the PPIU are a step in the right direction, however what we need as a collective are practical solutions to our longstanding problems, which includes appropriate and affordable accommodation, improved pay rates, more efficient visa processes, to name a few.”

Vanuatu made an offer to host the 2023 PLMAM.

The PLMAM is funded by the Governments of Australia and New Zealand and is facilitated by the PACER Plus Implementation Unit which exists as the Labour Mobility Secretariat that supports the implementation of the Arrangement on Labour Mobility.