300 refugees to relocate from Egypt to Portugal through deal with IOM

CAIRO – 23 October 2024: Deputy Assistant to Foreign Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Combating Human Trafficking Wael Badawi co-chaired, alongside Portuguese Deputy Minister for the Presidency Rui Freitas, a meeting of senior officials at the Khartoom Process and the Rabat Process in Lisbon. 

The attendees – amounting to 150 belonging to 52 European and African states as well as the European Union (EU), African Union Commission (AUC), IGAD and ECOWAS – discussed innovative ideas to facilitate the moving of skilled labor.

Ambassador Badawi indicated in a press statement that the convention was an opportunity to exchange experience – among countries northern and southern the Mediterranean - on the best practices pertinent to legal migration. He added that Egypt presented its vision on remedying the causes of migration, and that are mostly intertwined with developmental and humanitarian aspects.  

Egypt and Portugal currently hold the chairmanship of the Khartoum Process and the Rabat Process, respectively. The former was founded in 2014 as a platform for political cooperation amongst the countries along the migration route between the Horn of Africa and Europe.

The latter was founded in 2006 as a framework for consultation and operationalisation for the countries of origin, transit and destination concerned by the migration routes linking Central, West and Northern Africa with Europe.

Badawi and Freitas held a bilateral meeting in the sidelines to discuss opportunities for seasonal Egyptian skilled labor to work in Portugal, as an MoU is in-progress similar to the ones signed with other European states.

On his side, deputy minister Freitas stated that his country would sign soon an agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IMO) to relocate 300 registered refugees from Egypt to different areas in Portugal, setting a vision to integrate them in society.

Ambassador Badawi expressed appreciation to Portugal for adopting the principle of shared responsibility, highlighting that Egypt hosts more than 10 million refugees and migrants and hoping for more relation initiatives.