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Belarus, Russia to continue to develop common migration space
MOGILEV, 19 April (BelTA) - Belarus and Russia will continue to develop the common migration space, Vitaly Naumchik, the deputy head of the citizenship and migration department at the Belarusian Interior Ministry, said when speaking at a meeting of the commission on legislation and regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarus-Russia Union State, BelTA has learned.
According to Vitaly Naumchik, rapid economic and social processes in the society, globalization of the world economy have increased the movements of the population both within and between states. Migration has evolved into a large-scale phenomenon in international life, which influences the world demographic processes and socio-economic development in virtually all countries.
“Events in the Middle East and in Ukraine, the ongoing migration crisis in Europe creates preconditions for the increase in the number of illegal migrants who will attempt to get to the EU through the territory of Russia and Belarus. Uncontrolled migration carries a number of risks and threats for any receiving state. In this regard, one of the most important goals of Belarus-Russia cooperation in the field of migration is to step up joint efforts in the development of the common migration space,” Vitaly Naumchik said.
The competent authorities of the neighboring countries have almost completed implementing the plan for 2014-2016 to develop the common migration space.
“However, in connection with the abolition of the Russian federal migration service, we have lost the momentum in cooperation on a number of important areas in the field of migration,” said Vitaly Naumchik. He hopes that with the completion of the organizational and staffing activities to set up the Directorate General for Migration at the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, cooperation between the two countries in the development of the common migration space will pick up.
This issue is even more relevant in the light of the new action plan for 2017-2020. Its draft has been prepared taking into account the national interests of the two states. The document stipulates the elaboration of concerted approaches to the rules of entry of third-country nationals to the Union State member states and their stay and departure. The parties shall exchange the information on third-country citizens planning and obtaining visas to Belarus and Russia, travel regimes with foreign states. The draft plan will be sent to the Union State Permanent Committee for further approval by the Council of Ministers of the Union State.
The meeting of the commission on legislation and regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarus-Russia Union State was hosted by the Mogilev Oblast Executive Committee on 18 April. It was held under the chairmanship of Artem Turov, the chairman of the commission, a member of the State Duma committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots. The event was attended by Union State MPs, representatives of the Permanent Committee of the Union State, the Ministries of the Interior, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Belarus and Russia, the State Border Committee and the State Security Committee of Belarus, the Russian Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for Management of State Property of the Russian Federation and the State Property Committee of the Republic of Belarus, as well as supervisory authorities of the two countries. The meeting focused on the ways to harmonize the legislation of Belarus and Russia, to ensure equal rights of citizens of the Union State in the field of migration. The meeting participants also examined the possibility of establishing a unified system of Union State property inventory control.
