International migration is an important feature of economies and societies of North and Central Asia. In 2020, there were almost 18 million international migrants residing in North and Central Asia, and over 21 million migrants from the subregion were residing outside their countries of birth.  

In 2018, United Nations Member States adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) which recognized that safe, orderly and regular migration works for all when it takes place in a well-informed, planned and consensual manner. The GCM echoes the call of the 2030 Agenda for data, monitoring and accountability and for strengthening the means of implementation and revitalization of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development (SDG17).  

In follow-up to the first Asia-Pacific Regional Review of the Global Compat in 2021, ESCAP is implementing a project on “Strengthening national capacities for evidence-based policymaking to implement the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in North and Central Asia”.  The target countries of the project are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Under the project, ESCAP assessed how migration data are being collected in countries of North and Central Asia and provided capacity-building on migration statistics. The project also conducted studies on pertinent issues related to migration in North and Central Asia, namely migration policies, gender and migration, migrant integration and remittances and remittance costs.

As the concluding meeting of the project, this expert group meeting cum capacity-building workshop had the following objectives: 

• Disseminated findings of research papers with a focus on North and Central Asia that address: (a) gender aspects of migration; (b) migrant integration in destination countries; (c) remittances and remittance costs; (d) recent migration trends and migration policies.
• Facilitated policy dialogues on migration in North and Central Asia among Governments and migration experts, in particular with a view to the Second Asia-Pacific Regional Review of the Global Compact for Migration.

This meeting was a follow up to two expert group meetings and capacity building workshops held in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2023 and 2024.