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BISHKEK (TCA) — Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a draft agreement on establishing a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Russia’s Tass news agency reported on April 24. Continue reading
DUSHANBE (TCA) — Russia has offered Tajikistan to become a country with an observer status in the Eurasian Economic Union, Tajikistan’s Avesta news agency reported with reference to Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan has simplified the conditions for obtaining work permits for foreign citizens. Earlier, six documents were required to obtain such permits, while only two documents are needed now, Medetbek Aydaraliev, Chairman of the State Migration Service of Kyrgyzstan, said at a press conference in Bishkek. In addition, the period for considering applications for work permits for foreigners has been reduced from one month to ten working days. As a result, bureaucratic barriers companies have often complained about have been reduced. The State Migration Service (SMS) has also begun accepting documents electronically, thus fulfilling the Government's Taza Koom (Clean Society) program. This work has been intensified after Kyrgyzstan’s Prime Minister Sapar Isakov criticized the SMS for delaying the process of issuing work permits. The Government received many complaints from foreign citizens, including investors, entrepreneurs, employees, and university teachers. The process of issuing permits was opaque, slow and uncomfortable, they said. "We attract investors and good teachers to universities but state bodies do not allow them to develop due to the process of issuing permits," Isakov said. "The Government should create the most convenient process for applying for a work permit. Our legislation should be attractive for investors, so that large enterprises, businesses could open,” the Prime Minister said. He ordered to simplify the procedure for issuing work permits for investors in a week's time, as well as to shorten the list of documents and consider the possibility of extending the work permit for foreigners to three years if they have an appropriate confirmation of the duration of the contract or long-term investment plans. Isakov also ordered to develop clear criteria for a motivated refusal to issue a work permit. Russian FMS blacklist shortened The SMS Chairman Aidaraliev also told the press conference that every year, the number of Kyrgyz citizens on the blacklist of the Federal Migration Service of Russia is declining. The FMS blacklist is a list of foreigners who violated the current migration legislation of Russia and were banned from entering the Russian Federation. As of January 1, 2018, about 77 thousand Kyrgyz citizens were blacklisted, while there were 110 thousand on January 1, 2017, and 180 thousand in 2015. According to official data, 640 thousand Kyrgyz citizens are now working in Russia, which is 88% of the total number of Kyrgyz migrants. The State Migration Service of Kyrgyzstan proposed not to blacklist those Kyrgyz citizens who violated the rules once, and to blacklist them after three violations. Negotiations on this issue will continue in the near future in Moscow within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. EEU benefits Supporters of Kyrgyzstan's accession to the EEU say that Kyrgyzstan’s main benefit from the accession was the facilitation of the working conditions of migrants in comparison with those from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (countries that are not EEU members). The migration statistics show that due to the economic crisis in Russia and the tightening of migration laws, the number of migrants from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan declined by...
ASTANA (TCA) — The Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan has rejected a Russian proposal to revisit the Central Asian country’s visa-free regime for U.S. citizens, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — In 2017, the economies of Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) member countries — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan — adapted to negative external developments and embarked onto a trajectory of economic growth. The region’s task for the next several years is to achieve more reliable and higher economic development rates, according to the quarterly Macroeconomic Review published by the Chief Economist Group at the EDB. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — The detention of a Kyrgyz parliament member in Kazakhstan on charges of involvement in contraband at the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border adds fuel to the Kazakh-Kyrgyz tensions over reported smuggling of Chinese goods into the Eurasian Economic Union through Kyrgyzstan. The incident has also highlighted the problem of corruption in Kyrgyzstan’s customs bodies. We are republishing this article on the issue by Chris Rickleton, originally published by Eurasianet: Continue reading
