Portugal prepares “labor agreements” with Portuguese-speaking countries to control migration

Government will also check how migrants will be accommodated: “It is one of the problems in agriculture and we know it is pressing”, says Paulo Rangel

The Portuguese Government is working on “labor agreements” with Portuguese-speaking countries, to identify labor needs, particularly in agriculture, and thus regulate the flow of immigrants, announced the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“In these 30 days” of Government, the authorities are seeking to “have labor agreements” with Portuguese-speaking countries, said Paulo Rangel this Thursday regarding the regulation of migration, during a debate promoted by RTP to mark Europe Day .

On Portugal’s side, labor needs are identified – which are, for example, the agricultural units that need workers -, and “these countries are also doing this work, some of them are clearly fully available for this ”, he added.

This initiative, he added, “already regulates [a imigração] because people already come with a job.”

The Government will also check the way in which migrants will be accommodated: “It is one of the problems in agriculture and we know it is pressing”.

Paulo Rangel identified this measure as one of the instruments for regulating migration.

“Another way is to invest in the countries of the people who come, because if they are more developed, the flows are also more controlled”, he argued, noting that Portugal has “a limited capacity”, but the European Union (EU) “has resources ”.

For the head of diplomacy, in the agreements it makes with third countries, the EU should not be concerned “only with trying to physically control the flows”.

In his opinion, “there must be great concern in creating conditions for these populations to settle”, through development cooperation, fundamental to “stabilize resources, to combat climate change in these countries, to help them manage water , because there will be many climate refugees.”

The EU “has the economic capacity and relationship capacity already established with a group of countries in which it can, on the one hand, reduce flows and, on the other hand, prevent these flows in the sense that the people who come, already come with minimum thresholds from an integration perspective, thus avoiding being exposed to traffickers and even national exploiters”.