Round Table on the Integration of Foreign Citizens in Sofia

The Sofia Development Association organized a roundtable on the integration of third-country(non-EU) nationals in Sofia on 23 November 2018. The project team INTEGRA presented the prospective scenarios for the migration to Bulgaria of third-country nationals and the challenges for Sofia in the short and medium term related to the integration of migrants into the labor market, in the economic, cultural and social spheres.

Together with the participants in the round table - representatives of Sofia Metropolitan Council and Sofia Municipality, experts from public institutions, employers' organizations, international organizations, NGOs in the field of integration of refugees and migrants and human rights, Sofia University and third country nationals - were discussed recommendations for local measures and policies. Among them were the creation of entrepreneurship programs sponsored by employers training, the establishment of a center for complex services for third-country nationals, the full use of the funding programs of Sofia Municipality, the establishment of mechanisms for collecting and processing of relevant information.

The results of the round table discussions will be reflected in the Sofia City Agenda for Integration, which will be published in December, and will be the basis for the forthcoming advocacy and information campaign for more effective integration of foreign citizens.

The event is an activity under the INTEGRA project, which received funding from the EU Fund for Asylum, Migration and Integration.