Russia and Kazakhstan in Eurasian migration system : development trends, socio-economic consequences of migration and approaches to regulation

Abstract

Russia, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries formed a strong migration system that is characterized by large-scale labor migration. It is not only economic development of donor countries that depends on labor migration. The same is true for recipient countries (Russia and Kazakhstan), where considerable share of GDP is generated by foreigners. This dependency will keep rising in the context of demographic crisis and shrinking labor resources.Evolution of migration policies of Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as of other Central Asian countries is not coordinated. Although Kazakhstan partially copies many aspects of migration regulation in Russia, their policies are not conceptually linked. As a result there is a need for stronger multilateral and bilateral cooperation between various Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan and Russia.