IOM yesterday officially opened a Liaison Office in Beijing.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, People’s Republic of China
(PRC) Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tian Kai expressed his
government’s satisfaction with the move and said that it
marked a new stage in the cooperative relationship between China
and IOM.

China, which has held Observer status in IOM since June 2001,
signed an agreement with IOM in September 2006 to set up the
Liaison Office.

IOM Director General Brunson McKinley said: “This is but
the latest step in our progressively developing relationship which
now includes bilateral and multilateral capacity building efforts
and sharing of experiences, most recently with funding and
sponsorship primarily by the EU.”

During his stay in Beijing, Director General McKinley also met
Foreign Minister Li Zhao Xing, who said he hoped to see an increase
in cooperative activities with IOM in a broad range of
migration-related fields. 

McKinley is today scheduled to meet with Vice Minister of Labour
and Social Security Hu XiaoYi and Vice Minister of Public Security
Meng Hong Wei. 

For more information, please contact:

Gerry Pascua

IOM Beijing

Tel.: 86-10-8532-1834

E-mail:  "mailto:gpascua@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">gpascua@iom.int