Tajikistan is currently considering the possibility of redirecting its labor migration flows to Arab countries as well as to South Korea as alternative to Russia.
“For the purpose of sending manpower to Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), we have studied opportunities of labor markets of these countries and worked out appropriate draft agreements with them on recruiting manpower,” the Minister of Labor, Migration and Employment of the Population, Ms. Sumangul Taghoyzoda, told reporters in Dushanbe on July 20.
According to her, they have already studied opportunities and requirements of South Korea’s labor market and worked a draft agreement on labor cooperation with that country.
At the same time, the minister noted that the main problems facing Tajik labor migrants are lack of language knowledge and lack of specialty qualification. “These countries need skilled workers,” Ms. Taghoyzoda said.
“Over the first six months of this year, more than 242,000 labor migrants, with 89 percent of them being men, have left the country seeking better employment opportunities, which was 66,000 people less than in the same period last year,” she said, noting that 237,000 (97.6%) Tajik seasonal worker have traveled to Russia and more than 5,700 (2.3 percent) Tajik seasonal workers have traveled to Kazakhstan.
Over the same six month period, more than 160,000 people have reportedly returned to Tajikistan.
Recall, senior representatives from the Interior Ministry migration service on October 29, 2009 met in Dushanbe with Saudi delegation, led by Saad Al-Baddah, the head of the National Commission for Recruitment (NCR), which is a subsidiary of the Riyadh-based Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Issues related to development of efficient mechanisms of recruiting labor migrants from Tajikistan to Saudi Arabia as well as creating an efficient system of training courses for migrants on called-for specialties and Arabic and English were among major topics of the meeting.
The sides also discussed issues of legal labor migration between the two countries with regard to experience in protecting rights and legal interests of labor migrants outside the country.
They also considered issues related to development of flexible mechanisms to ensure management of migration flows, creation of transparent and efficient procedures for regulation of labor migration.
During the meeting, it was noted that skilled engineers, architects, carpenters, and wood-carvers are currently in demand in Saudi Arabia.
Representatives of the Saudi delegation expressed readiness to accept Tajik migrants in January 2010.
Under a memorandum of cooperation in the field of migration signed between the two countries in Al-Riyadh in September 2009, 800 Tajik specialists were supposed to travel to Saudi Arabia in 2010-2011 for seasonal work.
Meanwhile, Saudi’s Arab News reported on May 21, 2009 that decks have been cleared for the recruitment of hundreds of Tajik workers who lost their jobs in Russia and elsewhere due to the global economic crisis. The first group of 2,000 workers will possibly be deployed in Saudi Arabia in a staggered schedule later this year, Arab News reported, noting that the plan has been given the green light following the visit of Tajikistan’s foreign minister in May 2009. The Kingdom and Tajikistan have reportedly decided to forge closer cooperation in the field of manpower recruitment.
On April 2012, senior representatives the Tajik Migration Service met with Head of Qatar’s delegation Zaid Rasheed Al-Nuaimi here on April 27, 2012. The meeting resulted in signing of a protocol of cooperation on labor migration was signed.
In late June 2015, Tajikistan’s minister of labor and migration met with officials from the South Korean Embassy in Dushanbe to inquire about the possibilities for Tajik migrant laborers to work in South Korea. Asia-Plus news agency reported on the meeting but could only say the two sides “expressed a readiness to expand cooperation.”
According to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, President Emomali Rahmon in June 2015 instituted a new measure to boost employment in Tajikistan. Rahmon signed a resolution stating that 90 percent of the work personnel at all foreign companies doing business in Tajikistan must be “local specialists.” The previous regulations required that 70 percent of the personnel working for foreign companies in Tajikistan must be citizens of Tajikistan.
