Are businesses fit to compete in the global competition for skills?

On 15-16 May 2015, the Turkish Chair of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), represented by Ambassador Mehmet Samsar, and the Government of Switzerland, represented by Ambassador Eduard Gnesa, co-hosted a GFMD Private Sector meeting in Istanbul, bringing together a select number of business decision makers from the ICT and Food, Beverage and hospitality sectors, relevant government policy makers, and other key stakeholders. The meeting looked at the challenges and opportunities of innovative policy-making on skills matching, recruitment mechanisms and facilitating labour mobility. It also discussed a proposal to establish a future public-private sector regular interaction mechanism in the framework of the GFMD.

See http://www.gfmd.org/docs/turkey-2014-2015 for the background documents.

Mr. Ahmet C. Bozer, Executive Vice President and President of Coca-Cola International (3^rd from left) delivered a scene-setting key note speech on “Why and how the global competition for skills will reshape labor migration in the 21stcentury.” Dr Khalid Koser, Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Migration (5^th from left), moderated the different sessions. Panelists included IOM Deputy Director General Ambassador Laura Thompson (2^nd from left), Mr. Félix Alleman, Market Head Turkey Nestle (3^rd from right), Mr. Jaap Buis, Public Affairs Manager, Randstad Holding International (2^nd from right) and Mr. Frederick Muia, Senior Adviser, International Organization of Employers, IOE (1^st on the right).