ATHENS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Third Global Forum on Migration and Development opened here Wednesday with the intention of advancing policies to help migrants settle in their new home countries.

    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the first UN leader to make an official visit to Greece, addressed the morning opening session.

    President Karolos Papoulias, Prime Minister George Papandreou and other high-level Greek officials also attended the meeting.

    More than 250 representatives from governments and international organizations were expected to exchange views on the consequences of the ongoing global financial crisis on the 214 million immigrants worldwide.

    There also was to be a series of roundtable sessions on how to achieve greater policy coherence between migration and development.