
Regular meetings on migration issues will enable the BRICS countries to share experience, facilitate the movement of people within BRICS and eventually formulate approaches to the migration process, Konstantin Romodanovsky, Head of the Russian Federal Migration Service, said at the First Meeting of the BRICS Heads of Migration Authorities in Sochi.
The event will address the regulation of migration processes, which are gaining strategic importance in light of the ongoing events in the Middle East.
Representatives from migration agencies of the Eurasian Economic Union, partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the relevant UN agencies and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe are attending the meeting.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Romodanovsky said there are no ready-made migration policy recipes for all countries, but Russia's experience with the massive acceptance of migrants could be useful for the international community. Russia's migration policy is based on the priority of the legitimate rights of migrants and compliance with its international obligations.
"We provide a comfortable environment for in-demand, legal migrants," he said.
Russia pays special attention to the employment of qualified specialists. Over 115,000 work permits have been issued to foreign nationals; favourable conditions have been created for granting Russian citizenship to students, entrepreneurs and investors, and there is close interaction with diasporas and religious organisations that have influence among representatives from a particular country.
"The most important aspect of accepting such a significant number of migrants is organisation, adaptation and integration. We act on the premise that migrants should be fluent in the language of the host country and know the fundamentals of its laws, history and culture," he said.
Mr Romodanovsky also said there are currently 8,000 migrants from Syria, where an armed conflict has been going on since 2011, on Russian territory.
Speaking about the problem of refugees from the Middle East, he said Russia has a certain opinion as to how they could be distributed among the EU countries. If Russia's position on the issue is supported by its BRICS partners, he said he would make it public.
Representatives from migration agencies of the BRICS countries, the Eurasian Economic Union, partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the relevant UN agencies and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will also participate in a roundtable «New Strategies of Managing Migration as the Key to a Successful Development of Society».
The heads of migration authorities plan to adopt a joint statement at the end of the meeting.