Davos – The United Nations Migration Agency Director General William Lacy Swing is attending this week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland with a full slate of daily events. 

Early on Tuesday (23/01), DG Swing participates in the WEF’s fourth annual When Women Thrive briefing, this year called From Opportunity to Action.  Participants are being asked to consider the widening economic gender gap and ask themselves, “Are we making progress or making noise?”

Also, on Tuesday morning DG Swing will contribute to a panel on Somalia, which is facing a number of challenges and whose increasing instability poses an imminent threat to its region. Ambassador Swing will be joined by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire of Somalia, the UNHCR’s Filippo Grandi, President Alpha Conde of Guinea and Peter Maurer of the ICRC, among others.

Three afternoon sessions Tuesday – ‘World in Transformation: Migration’, ‘We Need to Talk About…Immigration’ and ‘Reconnecting Refugees’ – will discuss data-driven strategies of integration and advocacy.

Wednesday’s activities include a morning panel: More than Numbers: How Decision Makers Can Capture the Value of Migration Through Data, featuring Ambassador Swing with Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Netherlands and Solveigh Hieronimus, Partner, McKinsey & Company, moderated by Khalid Koser, Executive Director, Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund.  

This event is timely given Wednesday’s launch of a new report, More Than Numbers: How Migration Data Can Deliver Real-life Benefits – by the UN Migration Agency’s (IOM) Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and the McKinsey Centre for Government (MCG) that explains how using better data to address the challenges and opportunities of migration could be worth tens of billions of dollars to cities, governments, consumers and tax-payers worldwide. 

Later on Wednesday, Ambassador Swing will take part in a panel Stabilizing the Mediterranean, moderated by Roula Khalaf, Deputy Editor, The Financial Times and featuring Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo of Nigeria and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece.

Ambassador Swing will be available for media interviews throughout the World Economic Forum week.

For more information, please contact: Leonard Doyle, IOM HQ, Tel: + 41 79 285 7123. Email: ldoyle@iom.int  or Joel Millman, Tel: +41 79 103 8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int