Tashkent becomes a platform for global dialogue on migration
Tashkent hosts the International Migration Forum on the social and legal protection of labor migrants and their family members, organized by the Migration Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
About 600 representatives from more than 40 countries are attending the event.
At the opening ceremony, a video address by Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration, to the forum participants was shown.
Director of the Migration Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bekhzod Musayev noted that the country is consistently implementing measures to develop vocational education and language training, as well as to improve mechanisms for organized labor migration, so that citizens of Uzbekistan, wherever they may be, can secure a worthy place through their knowledge, work, and responsibility.
According to the 2026 report of the International Organization for Migration, there are about 304 million international migrants worldwide, 168 million of whom are labor migrants. They make a significant contribution to the global economy and labor market. The volume of remittances sent by migrants to their families amounts to about $905 billion.
As part of the forum, representatives from governments, UN agencies, the private sector, and civil society discussed expanding legal migration channels, promoting the principles of orderly migration management, protecting migrants’ rights, and strengthening international cooperation in this area.
Special attention was paid to new global challenges, particularly the impact of climate change on population mobility.
It was emphasized that Uzbekistan, the most populous country in Central Asia with more than 38 million people, has one of the youngest demographic structures in the region. Currently, about 1.2 million citizens of the country are officially working abroad.
As part of the two-day forum, about 20 agreements are expected to be signed between international employers and the Migration Agency to develop a sustainable, transparent, and mutually beneficial system of labor mobility.
Also, as part of the event, an opening ceremony was held for the “Intil” International Center for Language and Vocational Training, which specializes in training Uzbekistan citizens in modern professions and foreign languages for employment abroad.
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Guzal Sattorova, UzA
