Over 1.5 mln Kyrgyz citizens work abroad

BISHKEK. May 3 (Interfax) - Over 1.5 million Kyrgyz citizens are working abroad, and their number has been growing every year, the Kyrgyz government's press service said on Wednesday, citing information from the Labor and Social Development Ministry.

"While the republic's government is working hard to create hundreds of thousands of jobs inside Kyrgyzstan, we will still have to export the labor force in the coming years. The question is how to send our young people to highly paid jobs," the press service quoted Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Edil Baysalov as saying.

"There are millions of vacancies available to us in Europe and Asia, not to mention Russia, yet we fail to meet their level," he said.

"The main task for now is the swift learning of foreign languages, skills and highly qualified professions," Baysalov said.

According to the Kyrgyz National Statistics Committee, Kyrgyzstan's population topped 7 million in October 2022.

Baysalov met with representatives of government agencies, international organizations and private labor migration agencies on Wednesday to discuss legal support to Kyrgyz citizens abroad, improving their labor conditions, and legal employment.