Friday, 22 July 2011
Government To Take Steps Against Outbound Migration
On the sidelines of his visit to Aragatsotni marz, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian met with writers and other prominent intellectuals in Oshakan. In attendance were Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan and Armenian Writers’ Union Chairman Levon Ananyan.
The head of government referred to migration-associated concerns expressed by a group of intellectuals and answered their questions.
According to the Prime Minister, the problem of migration is kept in focus by the government as the country has been exposed to serious demographic threats since early 90s. “Currently we have some 3 million people with permanent residence in the Republic of Armenia. In the meantime, we have twice as many compatriots living abroad evidencing our people’s mobility which means that our citizens enjoy favorable conditions for free cross-border movement. Another reason behind increased migration is the lack of employment. Our surveys demonstrate that the lack of jobs is a top factor behind seasonal workers’ outbound migration. Here are the two main factors for migration,” Tigran Sargsyan noted.
According to the Premier, the annual index of migration used to be 200.000 in 1991-95. “It was somewhat objective as caused by Armenia’s social and economic position when jobs went down sharply urging our citizens to quit the country for welfare considerations. The negative balance of departures came down to 50-60 thousand a year in 1996-97 when Armenia reached macroeconomic stability and the economy started growing. In 2004-06, the migratory balance broke even with some trends of positive turnover. Starting from 2007 this tendency was turned down to reach the mark of 4-5 thousand a year,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister stressed that the global financial and economic crisis was instrumental in fostering such a negative balance as there were practically no labor migrants in 2009. “This was due to the lack of jobs in Russia. In 2010, Russia’s improved labor market triggered new outflow of labor migrants. Our studies indicate that at this point the number of labor migrants from Armenia totals 60 thousand a year. Based on 2011 half-year’s figures, we can state that the index of 2007 has been reinstated in Armenia.”
As he said, one ought to be cautious in dealing with statistics considering the factor of seasonal departures. “The above dynamics has confused some media outlets which are sounding the alarm about this year’s unprecedented migration. However, the studies conducted by the migration service of Armenia show that the stated phenomena stem from seasonal movement and have nothing to do with permanent migration. It is first of all caused by the reinstatement of the index of 2007-2008. In any case, we will take up the problem, even if it is a matter of some 2.5-3 thousand persons,” the head of government declared.
In December, 2010, the Government of Armenia developed a migration policy strategy cutting clear on the government’s goals and priorities. “First of all, our migration policy should seek decision of ethnographic and demographic tasks. We have to reverse the negative balance. The newly formed Ministry of Diaspora has developed a series of programs to strengthen the Homeland-Diaspora linkages, foster jobs and promote our compatriots’ comeback to Homeland. To this end, the government has drafted a law on repatriation for the National Assembly approval under which the State is to create such an atmosphere for our compatriots as will allow them to quickly adapt to the new conditions.”
With reference to the problems faced in border regions, the Prime Minister said they are kept in spotlight with harmonious territorial development standing high on the home policy agenda. “Priority should be given to the countryside rather than to Yerevan or large cities in making budget appropriations. Our banks should administer State-subsidized mortgage loans on preferential terms to poor communities, first of all,” Tigran Sargsyan said.
As for the birth rate improvement-related action, the government was said to have implemented serious programs over the past few years. Obstetric services are provided free of charge with minimized corruption risks. “We can boast serious progress in this area as evidenced by those corruption risk-assessing international organizations working in Armenia. Child benefits kept growing even amid the global crisis,” the Premier advised.
The writers in attendance said to be concerned about the shrinking number of bookstores and wanted to learn the Prime Minister’s literary insights. Tigran Sargsyan emphasized the need for making joint efforts and reading more in order to build on one’s intellect and learning.
Note that for support to the telethon entitled “I am a book-friend,” Tigran Sargsyan was presented with the Diploma of Literary Philanthropist by Writers’ Union Chairman Levon Ananyan.
