DUSHANBE, January 20, Asia-Plus - As of December 1 2005 441,171 citizens of Tajikistan left the country filling in migration cards, the Minister of Labor of Social Security, Zokir Vazirov, remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 20. 

Of them, 412,123 people left Tajikistan in search of seasonal work, and more than 29,000 people left the republic for private businesses (tourism, studying, commercial activity), according to the minister.  

“The results of survey carried out by the ministry have shown that at present more than 400,000 Tajik labor migrants are staying in the Russian Federation, some 2,000 Tajik labor are currently in Kazakhstan and the same number of Tajiks are working in Kyrgyzstan,” Vazirov said, adding that more than 3,000 Tajik labor migrants are staying in other CIS states.  

According to the minister, economic entities engaged in recruiting manpower to Tajikistan from abroad last year placed 156 citizens of foreign countries, including 155 people from China and one from India , in jobs in the republic.