Round Table in Kyrgyzstan: The Unifying Role of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly in the Common Eurasian Space

20/05/2024 14:08

May 14-15, 2024 in the capital of Kyrgyzstan hosted the International Round Table and Strategic Session “Migration Processes as a Factor of Cooperation in the Common Eurasian Space” supported by the A.M. Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Support Foundation. The Eurasian Peoples' Assembly in Bishkek was represented by the Head of the Assembly's Department for Happiness, Director of the ANO "Eurasian Center for Support of the Institute of Family and Family Values", Head of the Center for Socio-Cultural Development " Aggregator of Happiness " Marina Volkova.

The event was attended by representatives of authorities, public organizations, the expert community from 8 countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, including the Department of Labor Migration and Social Protection of the Eurasian Economic Commission, the Ministry of Labor, Social provision and migration of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Migration Council under the Speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment of the Republic of Tajikistan.

The main topic of the conversation was the development of interaction between Russia and the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus in realizing the integration potential of migration processes.

“When I introduced the “Department of Happiness”, I noted participants smiling - what does happiness and migration have in common? But I, having conducted an analysis, gave numbers – the difference between a migrant’s happiness the happiness of an ordinary person. Because everyone basically believes that migrants are primarily interested only in the economic component and, apart from this, nothing else. But when they saw my diagram there: the level of security, the level of trust and so on are not in last place for many - everyone got a little thoughtful and began to speculate on the subject, - said Marina Volkova.

During the round table, the experience of the CIS countries in the migration field was presented, measures were proposed to improve mechanisms for working with migrants and members of their families. Possible areas for expanding cooperation between public and state organizations of the countries of the Eurasian space were discussed, including within the framework of the one created with the support of the Gorchakov Foundation and the Presidential Grants Foundation of the coalition of public organizations of the CIS countries “Migration and Development (M&D)”.

“We were also talking about supporting young professionals who, after studying in another country, return to their homeland. There are communities of former graduates of foreign universities, but in them the younger generation finds themselves out of work. And there was a proposal that the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly could become a unifying platform in this area. There was also a request for the Assembly to become an information platform, because many representatives of countries tell us how much they are doing in terms of migration policy, but they do not know about each other,” shared the Head of the Happiness Department of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly.

As a result of the meeting, agreements were reached on combining the efforts of public organizations and authorities of the participating countries in promoting the improvement of mechanisms for regulating migration processes in the EAEU and the CIS, wider use of the experience of Russian organizations and experts in the development of a system of pre-departure preparation in the countries of origin of migrants, developed recommendations.

The event was organized by the PSP-Fund Charitable Foundation for the Support and Development of Educational and Social Projects - Interregional Resource Center for Migrant Adaptation and Interethnic Relations (St. Petersburg). The partner from the Kyrgyz Republic was the public association “Resource Center for the Elderly”.