On November 27 – 30, 2018 the 109^th session of the Council of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is taking place in Geneva, being attended by representatives of 172 Member States, IOM observers, as well as international organizations, including NGOs.

Mr. António Vitorino, newly elected IOM Director General, and Ms. Louise Arbor, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration, addressed the audience, outlining key issues regarding UN Migration Network’s reform and the vision of IOM's role in it, in particular, in the context of future implementation of the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which has to be adopted during the Intergovernmental Conference in Morocco in December 10-11, 2018.

Participants of the session discuss the general trends in migration processes in the world and the main challenges and achievements in overcoming the migration crisis, consider the results of the IOM's activities in 2018 and its plans for the next year, as well as the efforts of the Organization to respond to the problems of internally displaced persons.

Mr. Yurii Klymenko, Permanent Representative of Ukraine in Geneva, in his statement during the general debates on November 28 expressed his gratitude to the leadership of the Organization for the assistance provided to Ukraine in the context of overcoming the consequences of the difficult socio-humanitarian situation in the country caused by the ongoing Russian aggression. He also outlined the persistent efforts of the Government of Ukraine aimed at meeting the needs of the affected population and called on the international community to continue helping Ukraine due to the large scale of existing challenges.