DUSHANBE , July 19, Asia-Plus - Minister of Labor and Social Security Zokir Vazirov told a news conference on July 18 that “a process of sending labor migrants for work outside Tajikistan remains unsatisfactory.”  

According to him, Tajik customs and border control services registered 331,404 people who have left the country in January-June 2006.  “But only 1,400 people of them have been sent for seasonal works by labor contracts,” the minister said.   

Anvar Boboyev, the head of the Migration Service of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, has told Asia-Plus that at present nine organizations in Tajikistan are officially dealing with sending Tajik citizens for seasonal work to other countries.  “However, wages proposed by employers not always suit migrants and therefore they prefer to seek better employment opportunities by themselves.”  “To tackle this problem we will begin holding meeting with potentials labor migrants in local mosques beginning from August.  

According to figures provided by the Migration Service, since the beginning of this year, more than 9,000 people have left for Kyrgyzstan , more than 1,500 people for Ukraine , and more than 2,000 for other CIS states.  630 people have left for far abroad countries over the first six months of this year, according to the Migration Service.  

Since the beginning of this year, the largest flow of labor migrants has come from the Sughd province – 133,740 people.  From the Khatlon province, more than 90,000 people have gone to other countries in search of seasonal work, from the districts subordinate to the center (RRP) – more than 78,000 people, from Gorno Badakhshan – more than 16,000 people and from Dushanbe – more than 12,000 people.