Panama and Costa Rica hold third meeting on indigenous labor migration

Ngäbe Buglé indigenous populations maintain circular migration flows between Costa Rica and Panama in search of employment and economic development. IOM facilitates dialogue between both governments to address and facilitate these migration flows.

As part of these efforts, on April 29-30, the Ministries of Labor of Panama and Costa Rica held the Third Meeting of the Bilateral Technical Committee to implement an agreement regarding the coordination mechanism for labor migration. Participants included 14 representatives from the General Directorate of Migration of Costa Rica, the National Migration Service of Panama, and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries.

Edgar Cascante, of the Ministry of Labor of Costa Rica, mentioned that during the meeting the participants discussed the improvement of migration procedures for the Ngäbe Buglé population. Additionally, the authorities of both countries exchanged information on labor and migration.

On his part, Gonzalo Medina, IOM Program Coordinator for Panama, emphasized that, “It is essential to develop partnerships to manage orderly and regular labor migration, in this case to benefit a population that contributes economically to both Panama and Costa Rica.”

This activity was held as part of the Partnerships Pillar 2 of the Regional Migration Program: Mesoamerica-The Caribbean, which operates with support from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) of the Department of State of the United States.