Valdai Club

On December 19, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion on topical issues of international migration. The discussion was timed to coincide with International Migrants Day, which is commemorated annually on December 18th. The moderator was Oleg Barabanov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club.

Dmitry Poletaev, leading researcher at the Institute for Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and director of the Center for Migration Studies, who co-authored the report “The Social Problems of International Migrants”, pointed to the “glass walls” effect. According to him, migrants are present around us; we see them, but we don't hear them, and they don't hear us. He also stressed that the problems associated with migrants are traditionally heavily mythologised.

Andrey Korobkov,the second co-author of the report, professor of political science at the University of Tennessee (USA), noted the split of the migration flow into two unequal parts - the elite (‘expats’, educated migrants, investment migrants, students, academic migrants) and basic immigrants (low-skilled migrants, illegal immigrants, family members, refugees). In his opinion, it is also important that both research and public policy tend to view migration as a macroeconomic process in which the people themselves are “lost”. This contributes to the transformation of migrants into a kind of political "bargaining chip".

Rashid Alimov,  professor of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan and the Taihe Institute (China), Secretary General of the SCO (2016–2018), presented a view from Tajikistan. He stressed that Tajik migration to Russia has its own history, which has both dramatic chapters and wonderful stories. Both parties view labour migration as a mutually beneficial process. Interaction between Russia and Tajikistan in the spirit of strategic partnership yields positive results, but at the same time, a number of issues remain related to the adaptation of migrants in Russia, he admitted. Another view from the Global South was offered by Nurhan ElSheikh, professor of political science at Cairo University, a member of the Egyptian Council for International Affairs, who spoke about the positive and negative aspects of labour migration for Egypt as a migration “donor”. She considers compliance with the legislative framework in migration issues to be extremely important. Illegal migration, in her opinion, is a disaster for both the sending side and the receiving side.

Maria Apanovich, associate Professor of the MGIMO Department of Demographic and Migration Policy, pointed out the importance of the gender aspects of migration. Gender imbalance in the labour market exists all over the world, and migrants, as the most vulnerable category of the population, are particularly affected by it. 

Gulnara Gadzhimuradova, Associate Professor of the Department of Demographic and Migration Policy at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, pointed to the importance of selective migration mentioned by Korobkov against the backdrop of a tightening of migration policy. Countries are trying to attract only highly qualified migrants with the necessary specialties, as well as undergraduate students - that is, almost ready-made specialists, where the additional costs are minimal. In a certain sense, there is a competition in the world over who will lure whom - and Russia cannot stay away from it, she believes.