DUSHANBE, October 27, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon today morning met here with Konstantin Romodanovsky, the director of Russia’s Federal Migration Service (FMS), according to presidential press service.
The two discussed issues related to the state of Tajik labor migrants in the Russian Federation and problems facing them there.
Tajik leader hailed a decision of Russian authorities to grant some privileges to Tajik labor migrants working in the Russian Federation and joint efforts of the two countries to develop migrant support centers, raise legal awareness of migrants, and organize language and vocational training courses.
At the same time, Rahmon expressed concern about infringement of rights of migrants by some Russian non-governmental organizations offering intermediary services.
He also expressed dissatisfaction with non-fulfillment of a number of provisions of a government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Russia on labor migration and protection of rights of migrants that was signed in 2004 already.
Under this agreement, labor migrants may undergo medical examination only in one of two states. Besides, the agreement provides for transportation of the bodies of dead migrants to homeland at the expense of employers.
Tajik leader also brought the issue of the duration of the stay of Tajik citizens in the Russian Federation to Romodanovsky’s attention.
We will recall that during a meeting in Sochi on August 18, Rahmon and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, reached an agreement on improvement of the legal foundation for labor migration. Under this agreement, the term of stay of Tajik nationals in Russia with no paperwork will be extended to 90 days, while at present Tajik nationals have to register within three days of their arrival in Russia.
