The Dominica Association for Industry and Commerce (DAIC) in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) held an Eggs and Issues Breakfast on Wednesday to discuss pertinent issues re migration and the migrant population in Dominica.
According to communications officer, Maxine Alleyne- Esprit, the organization is, “Committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants as well as society in general. Statistics show that 1 in every 30 persons is a migrant, this is globally and this 3.4 % of the global population contributes over 9% to global GDP. The evidence is also that migrants spend on average 85% of their earnings in their host country. So whereas we have remittances. Remittances generally account for just about 15% of the total income of migrants. However we do not pretend that migration does not create challenges both for the countries of origin and for the host countries. We also recognize that Dominica plays the role of both; country of origin as well as host country.
Head of IOM country operations, Natasha Greaves said that Dominica needs a labour migration policy to assist with the shortage of labour. She believes that a circular migration policy would assist the agricultural sector.
