During a meeting with the Consul General of the Kingdom in Strasbourg Driss El Kaissi, Štefánek underlined Morocco's initiatives in the field of migration.

The two officials hailed the developing relations between Morocco and the Council of Europe since 2012 and welcomed the convincing results of the dialogue initiated between the two parties, which was further consolidated as part of the partnership under way for the 2018-2021 period.

The Consul General of the Kingdom surveyed the broad lines of the National Immigration and Asylum Strategy initiated under the leadership of the Sovereign, noting the global and humane aspect of this policy, which is respectful of human rights and sets a responsible and solidarity-based regional model for the management of the migratory issue.

This is a vision that has its origins in the fundamental change that Morocco has undergone in recent years, moving from a land of emigration or transit to a host territory for migrants, he stressed, recalling the establishment of an African Migration Observatory in Morocco

Morocco's efforts, as well as the success of its national approach for dealing with the migration issue have led African brother countries to entrust HM King Mohammed VI with the mandate of "Leader on the migration issue" within the African Union, underlined El Kaissi.

In this context, Štefánek lauded the visionary and humane leadership of the Sovereign on the migration issue, stressing the importance of such initiatives in the promotion of a positive narrative on migration and migratory flows, which face today several challenges, mainly at the security level.

Insisting on the importance of this positive narrative, Štefánek highlighted the initiatives of the Council of Europe in this field, in particular the project entitled "European Qualifications Passport for Refugees” for the integration of this group of the population in the labor market and the pursuit of studies, as well as the future action plan for the protection of the vulnerable migrant population.

Regarding this aspect of integration and protection of migrants and refugees, the Consul General of Morocco told his interlocutor that the Kingdom is prepared to provide the Council of Europe with its experience, highlighting the actions undertaken in these areas, citing for this purpose one of the strong points of the national immigration and asylum strategy, namely the access of migrants and refugees to basic services, in particular education, health, housing, vocational training and employment, as well as the exceptional operation to regularize the situation of thousands of migrants with a view to ensuring a better integration for them.

The first phase of this system was initiated in December 2014 allowing the regularization of 23,096 migrants out of 27,649. After the success of the first campaign, a second phase was scheduled upon Royal Instructions. Thus from December 2016 to the end of 2017, 28,400 regularization applications were filed, including more than 20,000 approved applications, recalled El Kaissi.