The Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Migration, Refugees and Combating Human Trafficking Wael Badawi announced that Egypt hosts more than 10 million migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
He assured that Egypt treats them like guests and provides them with the same basic services available to Egyptian citizens.
Badawi stressed the importance of international cooperation regarding the burden-sharing and responsibility for this number of refugees, migrants alongside the host community in order to ensure the sustainability of providing the required services to them.
This comes Egypt’s participation in the second regional review meetings for the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), which was held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Badawi pointed out that Egypt, as one of the leading countries in implementing the GCM, stressed during the meetings that regular and orderly migration is a supporting element for development efforts and the implementation of the sustainable development strategy in countries of origin, transit and destination.
He also highlighted Egypt’s adoption of a comprehensive and holistic approach to migration governance, focusing on the importance of dealing with and addressing the main causes of migration, and the need to link the humanitarian and development aspects – in parallel with increasing awareness campaigns on the dangers of illegal migration.
Badawi reviewed the state’s efforts to open more legal immigration paths, whether through multilateral programs or bilateral labor agreements, while removing the practical obstacles that hinder the expansion of the implementation of these mechanisms.
And he discussed the importance of properly integrating migrants in the host country, which enhances social cohesion between migrants and refugees on one hand and the host community on the other.
