Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang headed a delegation to attend the International High-Level Forum on Immigration, which was held from November 19 to 20 2005 in Geneva, Switzerland.

In his speech, Shen expounded on the position of the Chinese government on the immigration issue and put forward a 5-point proposal on how to tackle the global immigration issue. The 5-point proposal includes: first, finding out the root causes of the problem and treating both symptoms and causes; second, the international community should carry out close cooperation and coordination; third, taking practical measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of immigrants; fourth, avoiding political inclination; fifth, making more studies on the immigration issue. Shen also introduced the conference on immigrants and regional development in Asia, which will be held in Lanzhou from March 14 to 16, 2006 and hosted by the Chinese government, International Organization for Immigration (IOM), and UK Department for International Cooperation (UDID).

The high-level forum was initiated by IOM with the theme of "seeking the consistency of immigration policies". Minister level officials from nearly 10 countries including Belgium, Indonesia, Morocco, and India attended the forum.