Baku, Moscow to co-op in labor migration

Azerbaijan and Russia will sign an agreement on cooperation in the area of labor migration shortly, the labor ministry official said.

Rauf Taghiyev, the head of the Labor and Social Security Ministry’s department, said that the agreement drafted by Russian and Azerbaijani experts envisioned regulating labor migration between the two countries, i.e., protecting the rights and freedoms of Azerbaijani citizens and ensuring their social security.

“If it becomes known what region of Russia Azerbaijani citizens live in and what they do, an issue on their social security will be raised before the Russian government. The Azerbaijani government will also undertake commitments concerning the Russian citizens working in Azerbaijan,” he said.

Taghiyev said that whereas the number of citizens of the CIS countries was 1.8 times as many as that of foreigners working in Russia legally in January-September 2007 as compared to last year, the number of Azerbaijani nationals went up by 2.1 times.

“Whereas administrative measures were taken against 1,500 Azerbaijani citizens in 2006 for violating the Russian legislation on migration, the figure was 278 in 2007. Besides, whereas over 1,000 Azerbaijani citizens were deported from Russia last year, only one person was deported from the country in 2007,” he added.*