Event

National Consultation Seminar on assessing the economic contribution of labour migration in Kyrgyzstan (ECLM project)

A National Consultation Seminar was held in Bishkek on November 17, 2015, and brought together 35 policymakers, government officials and experts to discuss on various aspects of the role of migrant workers in Kyrgyzstan, in the context of the "Assessing the economic contribution of labour migration in developing countries as countries of destination" (ECLM) project. The agenda for this meeting can be downloaded below.

Held in Bishkek on 17 November 2015, the National Consultation Seminar was the first in-country event in Kyrgyzstan for the EU-funded project “Assessing the Economic Contribution of Labour Migration in Developing Countries”, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Youth and the National Institute of Strategic Studies.

The seminar brought together more than 40 policymakers, government officials and experts. Opening remarks were delivered by Mr. Bolotbek Orokov, the National Coordinator of the International Labour Organization in Kyrgyzstan, Mr Johannes Stenbaek Madsen, the Head of the Cooperation Section of the delegation of the European Union to Kyrgyzstan and Mr. Almaz Asanbaev, the deputy minister of the former Kyrgyz Republic’s Ministry of Labour, Migration and Youth and the focal point of the project.

The project was presented by the project team (Mr Jesse Mertens and Ms. Sarah Kups), which was followed by presentations and reflections on migration policies, data and research on labour migration to Kyrgyzstan. The session on the policy framework was moderated by Saida Ismailakhunova of the World Bank and the session on existing research was moderated by Mr. Mamatkalil Razaev of the World.

The seminar generated rich discussions on the characterization and role of migrant workers in Kyrgyzstan. Issues that were discussed included the distribution of immigrants across different sectors, difficulties in capturing all immigrant flows in administrative data and skill shortages. It was noted that there were no empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration in Kyrgyzstan and that there was a need to learn more about the educational and economic profile of immigrants, their impact on the labour market and the extent to which immigration can foster knowledge transfers.