Dushanbe hosted the 28th meeting of the Council of Heads of Migration Authorities of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on May 28.

The event that took place at Hyatt Regency Dushanbe Hotel brought together heads of migration agencies of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as senior representatives of the CIS executive Committee, CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (IPA CIS), the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center (ATC) and the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU)

The presence of representatives of the CIS Executive Committee, IPA CIS, ATC and GCTA is of no small importance.

The meeting participants discussed the overall migration situation, amendments made to the national migration legislations, issues related to preventing illegal migration, the process of drafting of model legislation in the field of migration and digitalization of migration processes, etc.

They also discussed the issue of implementation of the interstate program of joint measures to address illegal migration for the period of 2019-2023, the experience of the Russian Federation in concluding and implementing international agreements on readmission as well as the experience of the Migration Service on the “single window” principle and digitalization of it in Azerbaijan.  

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the CIS Council of Heads of Migration Authorities (Council) and the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center was signed on the sidelines of the meeting.  \

At the initiative of the Council, the legal foundation on migration cooperation is being developed and improved. 

The meeting resulted in signing of an appropriate minute. 

It was emphasized that the meeting envisaged bilateral meetings between the leadership of the relevant migration authorities of Tajikistan and Russia.

Earlier, Dushanbe and Moscow agreed that high-level delegations of Tajikistan and Russia will soon hold talks to resolve issues related to labor migration.

The agreement was reportedly reached during a meeting of the Tajik President Emomali Rahmon with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on May 9.

Among the main topics of the meeting were regulation of the labor migration process and joint countering of security threats, especially terrorism, extremism and other manifestations of transnational organized crime.

Labor migrants are still a critical component in the economy of Tajikistan and remittances keep many struggling families at home above the poverty line

According to official data, 652,014 Tajik nationals, including 554,804 men and 97,210 women, traveled abroad seeking better employment opportunities, which is 123,564 people or 16 percent less than 2022 (in 2022, 775,578 Tajik labor migrants traveled abroad, primarily to Russia, but also to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan ).  

Of those 652,014 Tajiks, who traveled abroad last year, 627,028 traveled to Russia, 18,418 others traveled to Kazakhstan and 6,568 people traveled to other countries.