Examination of Witnesses (Questions 220
- 222)
TUESDAY 9 MARCH 2004
PROFESSOR JAMES
BUCHAN, MR
WINSTON COX
AND MR
DUNCAN HINDLE
Q220 Mr Colman: Would you see it
also as a problem for south/south migration, for instance a nurse,
a Kenyan national, wanting to work in Uganda, or vice-versa?
Mr Cox: There are a lot of anecdotes
about the difficulties of south/south migrants, even in an area
as small as the Caribbean, where there are stories about the difficulties
of people from neighbouring countries getting work permits to
work in other countries, whereas people from much further afield
are able to get work permits to work.
Q221 Mr Colman: Is the Commonwealth
looking at this as a major obstacle, if you like, to development?
Mr Cox: What we are looking at,
really, is the movement of professionals in general, not country-specific,
but we have been asked by the health ministers and by the education
ministers to look at these two groups. We are not looking at the
issue as a north/south issue, it is also a south/south issue,
so we are not dividing it between north and south; it is a Commonwealth-wide
issue and we certainly need it to be managed better Commonwealth-wide.
We feel, however, that there are circumstances where industrial
countries in the Commonwealth may perceive that there is a comparative
advantage in training professionals in some of the developing
countries of the Commonwealth, and that is where the issue of
capacity building and various kinds of institutional arrangements
could be very beneficial.
Q222 Tony Worthington: We now need
to move on to our second group of witnesses. Can I thank you very
much for your help, and I would particularly like to thank those
who have come a long way from Scotland and South Africa. At least,
Mr Hindle, you heard it recorded in our minutes that "there
is no better person on earth" attributed to yourself! Can
I thank you.
Mr Hindle: I appreciate that.
Thank you very much.
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