Secretary Blinken meets with Director General of the International Organization on Migration Antonio Vitorino
WASHINGTON D.C. Nov 15 – Secretary Antony Blinken meets with Director General of the International Organization on Migration Antonio Vitorino and the two new Deputy Directors General Amy Pope and Ugochi Daniels at the Department of State today.
Secretary Blinken congratulated the Director General on IOM’s upcoming 70th anniversary and welcomed the two Deputy Directors General to their new positions.
The Secretary thanked IOM for its ongoing efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. The Secretary and Director General Vitorino also discussed the need for more coordinated and cohesive migration management efforts in the Americas, including to address root causes of irregular migration.
The Secretary highlighted reinvigorated U.S. leadership on humanitarian issues, particularly refugee resettlement, and the U.S. commitment to work with international partners to address shared migration challenges, including the impact of climate change on the movements of people.
“This is the 70th anniversary of the IOM. We’re very proud, the United States, to have been a founding member of the IOM. And I have to say especially with the recent evacuation and relocation efforts from Afghanistan, the IOM has played an absolutely critical role stepping up, stepping in – whether it was at Ramstein, Dulles Airport, working with UNICEF on unaccompanied children. We’re so grateful for that work, grateful for the work that we’re doing together in this hemisphere given, here again, an unprecedented movement of people, and really throughout the globe,” Secretary Blinken said before their meeting.
“You have mentioned the very recent cooperation in terms of the relocation of Afghans through our operation – joint operation, and I must say that it is a very good example of a very good understanding and cooperation between the State Department and U.S. Government in general and IOM,” Director General Vitorino said, “But it’s not the only one. We have quite a large number of issues on the table where we share the concerns about the humanitarian situation in the world, the need to bring peace and stability and to be – to do better in managing migration, whether in Central America, in Africa, or in the Middle East.”
“Glad to meet with @IOMchief Director General Antonio Vitorino and his new Deputies @AmyEPope and @daniels_ugochi today. We’re deeply grateful to @UNMigration for its leadership supporting the Afghan people and managing our shared priority of migration in the Americas,” Secretary Blinken also tweeted today.