Tajikistan Ambassador to Russia Imomuddin Sattorov on January 27 met in Moscow with Mrs. Valentina Kazakova, Chairperson of the Main Migration Directorate at the Russian Interior Ministry, according to the press center of the Tajik Embassy in Moscow.  

In the course of the talks, the parties reportedly discussed prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Russia in the field of labor migration. 

They, in particular, discussed issues related to the stay of Tajiks, particularly Tajik labor migrants, in the Russian Federation.  

Imomuddi Sattorov (R) and Valentina Kazakova

Besides, Sattorov and Kazakova discussed in detail issues related to the possibility of amnestying a certain category of Tajik citizens, who had been deported from Russia.  

They also exchanged views on mechanisms of organized recruitment of specialists from Tajikistan for working in Russia, the Tajik Embassy said.  

The parties underlined the significance of further coordination of activities for the purpose of regulating migration processes and protecting rights of Tajik labor migrants working in the Russian Federation.

At the end of the meeting, the parties reportedly expressed a mutual desire to facilitate the completion of the process of harmonization of the draft agreements on labor migration cooperation. 

Travel between Russia and Tajikistan has not ceased entirely, but the limitations are so stringent as to rule out the routine patterns of short-term labor migration.  Charter flights are the only way to get from one country to the other.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Tajikistan (MoLSP) estimates that the flow of migrants to Russia last year was down by 57 percent.