On September 25, 2024, Dr. Nermin Oruč, our director of research, took part in a conference, delivering a presentation and participating in a panel discussion. The conference, titled “Protection and Economic Prospects: Fostering Labour Participation of Asylum Seekers in the Western Balkans,” was held at the Aleksandar Palace Hotel in Skopje, North Macedonia. He presented a research report “Economic Aspects and Opportunities in Hosting People on the Move in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia,” developed in collaboration with Dr. Isabel Ruiz from University of Oxford and Dr. Ivana Krstic from University of Belgrade. Following the keynote, he contributed to Panel Discussion I, titled “Current Labour Market Situation, Benefits, and Challenges of Labour Market Access for Asylum Seekers.”
Organized under the auspices of the project “Fostering Economic Opportunities of the MARRI Participants’ Administrations by Enhancing the System for International Protection,” the conference is funded by the GIZ Regional Project “Social Participation of People on the Move and Local Population in Host Regions of the Western Balkans,” commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The event gathered leaders from the public and private sectors, international organizations, and civil society to discuss asylum seekers’ potential economic contributions, addressing challenges and facilitating their integration into the formal labour market in the Western Balkans.
