Lured by the prospect of a higher income, more than 40 percent of Asian migrants moved to richer neighbours like Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore in search of work, the ILO said.

"With much determination and dignity, migrant workers provide their labour to countries that require it in sectors facing shortages of native workers," the ILO's Asia Pacific director, Ng Gek Boo, said at a symposium organised by the UN body in conjunction with a local university.

"Labour migration is a sign of the growing integration of our dynamic regional economies," he told the forum.

Ng said per capita gross domestic product in the region's wealthier nations was as much as 16 times that of the poorest economies, including Laos and Cambodia.

Singapore's Minister of State for Education and Manpower, Gan Kim Yong, said that between 1995 and 2000, 1.1 million of a total 2.8 million Asian migrant workers went to other Asian countries to seek employment.

"Countries such as Japan, (South) Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are the main ASEAN destinations of these migrant workers," Gan said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"This is quite different from the situation two decades ago, when the bulk of Asian migrant workers sought employment mainly in countries outside Asia."

The forum, entitled Regional Symposium on Managing Labour Migration in East Asia: Policies and Outcomes, was organised to discuss regional labour migration policies and how to improve them.

Ng noted migrants also made significant contributions to their home countries in the form of remittances, skills and experience.

Figures from the World Bank showed remittance inflows into the region doubled every four years since 1990 to reach 43 billion US dollars in 2005, Ng said.

"There is evidence that these remittances have been funnelled into positive investments and have contributed to poverty alleviation in the receiving countries," he said.

Gan agreed migrant workers benefited not only their home countries but also the economies where they found employment.

"For labour-receiving countries, migrant workers help to meet manpower needs, thereby sustaining economic growth," Gan said in his opening address.

"Returning migrants also bring with them knowledge, skills, experience and new ideas gained from working abroad, which they can then apply back home."