1) The establishment of the independent Global Commission on International Migration to study how to improve cooperation among UN and other international agencies;

2) The adoption of a final draft resolution by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly deciding that in 2006 the high-level dialogue of the General Assembly will be devoted to international migration and development; and

3) The establishment of the Geneva Migration Group by the International Organisation on Migration, bringing together the heads of four UN agencies.

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1) The Global Commission on International Migration
The independent Global Commission on International Migration has been established to study how to improve cooperation among UN and other international agencies, and aims to provide a comprehensive response to migration issues, backed by about a dozen governments and jointly headed by Sweden and Switzerland.

The Commission is co-chaired by Sweden's former Minister for Development Cooperation, Migration and Asylum Policy Jan O. Karlsson, and World Bank Managing Director Mamphela Ramphele, a South African. Other members are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Italy, Mexico the Philippines and Switzerland.

The Commission's tasks include analyzing shortcomings in current approaches to migration and examining inter-linkages with other issues -- and presenting recommendations to stakeholders. The Commission will begin its work in January 2004, and will issue a final report to the UN Secretary-General in mid-2005. Ms. Ramphele stated that "the Commission hopes to reinforce the importance of migration on the international agenda and advance the interests of migrants and countries of origin, transit, and destination."

The UN Secretary-General supports the initiative, and endorsed it in a speech at Columbia University on 21 November, in which he stated, "It has my full backin