Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui met on August 2nd with Mr. Brunson McKinley, Director-General of International Organization for Migration (IOM) who was visiting China on August 2-3.

Zhang pointed out that migration was beneficial both to world economic development and social progress. International cooperation should be strengthened in order to widen the channels for legal migration and to properly address the issue of illegal migration. Zhang also made positive comments on the good cooperative relationship between China and IOM, and stressed that the Chinese side attached importance to the role played by IOM in coping with migration issues and would continue to make efforts in strengthening cooperative relationship between the two sides.

McKinley expressed his satisfaction about the cooperation between IOM and China. He emphasized that IOM highly regarded the role played by and the views of China on migration issues, and wished to carry out further exchanges and cooperation with China.

It was the second official visit by McKinley to China. During his visit in Beijing, Mr. Zhao Yongji, Vice Minister of Public Security, Mr. Wang Dongjin, Vice Minister of Labor and Social Security, and Mr. Li Baodong, Director-General of International organizations and conferences of MFA meet respectively with Mr. McKinley. Prior to this visit, McKinley attended the Bern Initiative Consultations for Asia co-organized by Chinese Government, IOM and the Swiss Government in Guilin from July 29th-30th.