DUSHANBE, October 26, Asia-Plus – A two-day conference on problems of labor migration opened at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in Dushanbe today.
Minister of Labor and Social Security Zokir Vazirov inaugurating the conference delivered a statement on social development and labor relations in Tajikistan.
Dwelling on Tajik labor migrants staying in the Russia Federation, the minister noted that according to official data, at present 318,000 Tajik nationals are seasonally working in Russia. Of them, 76,000 do not have passports, according to him.
“Over the past five years, we have gradually resolved some problems facing our labor migrants, including issue of dwelling and legal protection,” said Vazirov, “However, there are still many difficulties, we have to resolve.”
Umed Raimdodov, the deputy director of the Institute for Labor Research at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which is organizer of this conference, noted that in Tajik labor migrants staying in Kazakhstan are more legally protected than those staying in other countries, including Russia. Therefore the conference is discussing an agreement between Tajikistan and Russia on a status of Tajik labor migrants staying in Russia and status of Russian labor migrants staying in Tajikistan.
The conference is also considering the national migration policy and its implementation, as well as the influence of migration on the country’s budget and its impact on marriage and family relations.
Conference participants include representatives from the research institutes of the ministries of labor and economy, the state migration service, the president’s executive office, as well as researchers from academic institutes and international organizations dealing with migration problems in Tajikistan.
The conference is expected to produce recommendations for resolving the labor migration problems.
