Azerbaijan can share with Europe migration experience

/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan could share its experiences with other countries in the light of increasing migration crisis in the world.

The statement was made by Head of the International Organization for Migration in Baku Serhan Aktorpak on February 1.

He said that the European Union will continue to support Azerbaijan on migration issues.

“There are some 250 million migrants in the world. Migration is a natural process, as the world's growing number of wars and natural disasters,” Aktorpak noted.

Some 40,000 migrants have died during the migration process in the world over the past 16 years, he said.

Deputy Chief of the State Migration Service Parviz Musayev, in turn, stressed Azerbaijan is the only country, where foreigners do not pay a fee for a license to work.

He said the fee is paid by the company, which invites foreigners to work in Azerbaijan.

“The company makes a profit because of it. Under the law, If a foreigner lives and works in Azerbaijan after the completion of his work, he or she must either leave the country or extend the period of its location here,” he said.

In Azerbaijan, migration has begun to develop in the 1990s. Tolerant environment and traditions of multiculturalism existing in Azerbaijan is one of the reasons that stimulate the flow of migrants into the country.

Some 12,000 foreigners were issued a work license in Azerbaijan in 2014, which was by 6.6 times more compared to 2003.

As of December 2015, almost 30,000 foreigners, who represent 115 countries, have been registered in the country.

Previously, there was a gap in the law, Musayev said, noting that when the period ends, the foreigner should immediately leave the country.

“Now this problem is solved and the foreigner has an opportunity to stay for another 10 days. Sometimes the company, inviting the employee shows negligence, and does not extend the time of a work permit. Such companies are punished,” he said.

The deputy chief said the State Migration Service has established the Public Council, which recently held a meeting and prepared proposals, based on claims of foreigners due to loopholes in the law. Some of these proposals have been reviewed and directed to the appropriate authorities.

Musayev added that issues related to readmission between Azerbaijan and the EU will be resolved with the support of the International Organization for Migration and the EU.

He said sometimes people migrating to other countries face difficulties with registration.
"Both migrants and host countries are guilty in this issues."

Musayev stressed that they should be either registered or returned back. "Today these people are in the process of readmission in Azerbaijan, and they need support,” he added.

Migrant workers flow to Azerbaijan from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran, and they are generally engaged in the construction sector, in the trade market, and the service sector.

EU Ambassador to Azerbaijan Malena Mard stressed the EU and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on readmission, adding that the problem of migration has long been on the agenda of bilateral cooperation.

She emphasized, the EU will allocate 3.5 million euro up to 2017 to solve the migration process in Azerbaijan.

Mard also noted the EU plans of allocating 400,000 euro tech support to resolve the problems of migration.

She highlighted the EU interest in a large flow of Azerbaijani tourists to the EU, as well as tourists from EU to Azerbaijan.

Mard said the current relations between the two sides are different from those that existed at the beginning of the 1990s, adding that Azerbaijan and the EU are strategic partners.

The EU is the biggest trade partner and investor of Azerbaijan, adding that the two sides cooperate in many areas, including tourism and agriculture, she added.

According to the State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the EU were estimated at $9.69 billion in 2015, what is 1.5 times less compared to 2014.