July 14, Pozirk. Alaksandar Łukašenka defended his decision to invite migrant workers from Uzbekistan to Belarus in televised comments made during his trips to the economically depressed districts in the Mahiloŭ and Viciebsk regions yesterday and today.
The move is intended to address severe labor shortages in the country, he said during his tour of Škloŭ district in the Mahiloŭ region yesterday. “We cannot get by without hiring workers from outside,” he argued.
The Belarusian leader was accompanied by Shukhratbek Abdurakhmanov, hokim of Uzbekistan’s Andijan region, on his trip to the Orša district today, according to his press office. “We will benefit from it. The Viciebsk region will receive a development boost. We will work like brothers! Don’t doubt it,” he told local officials.
“We have more or less normal housing in villages. We will work together to renovate it… Uzbeks or Belarusians, it makes no difference.”
The Belarusian ruler turned to Uzbekistan after his similar effort to bring workers from Pakistan had failed.
On July 9, Łukašenka said after meeting Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Minsk that he invited migrant workers from Uzbekistan to come to Belarus with their families.
“We like Uzbeks here, so I would like to see more of your people come here with their families, even more than Pakistanis. In the agricultural sector, we provide housing, free education and healthcare, the same conditions we offer Belarusians. In cities, you may need to wait a little longer, but housing will become available.”
A year ago, Łukašenka and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discussed a mechanism to bring up to 150,000 Pakistani workers to address labor shortages exacerbated by emigration.
However, in March, Pakistan’s Emigration and Employment Office removed all Belarus-related construction jobs from its website after no applications had been submitted for four months.
