DUSHANBE, December 18, 2008, Asia-Plus — External migration should become one of priorities of the government’s policy, Muhiddin Kabiri, the leader of the Islamic Revival Party (IRPT), announced at a press conference in the party’s head office in Dushanbe on December 17.
Touching upon recent statement by Russian authorities about reduction of quotas for foreign workers, the IRPT leader noted that the government should be concerned about returning labor migrants.
“Even if only 5 percent of Tajik labor migrants return home, the socioeconomic situation in the country will deteriorate that may lead to destabilization of the political situation,” said Kabiri, “Sooner or later the global financial crisis will affect labor migrants and they will have to return home, therefore, government should think measures to employ them and seek alternative jobs abroad.”
According to him, it is necessary to establish a state body for regulation of migration issues at ministerial or state committee level.
The IRPT leader said that he will visit Russian cities, where Tajik labor migrants are working, in the near future to get acquainted with their present state in Russia.
An estimated 600,000 Tajik seasonal workers travel abroad each year, primarily to Russia but also to neighboring Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, according to the Interior Ministry migration service. In the meantime, some local and international NGOs say that actual number of Tajik labor migrants working abroad is more than one million people.
