The proposed deal aims to regulate temporary labor migration through legal, secure and state-controlled procedures.
Serbia and Uzbekistan have officially opened negotiations on a labor mobility agreement, after Serbian Labor Minister Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski and Bekzod Musayev, director of Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency, signed a Joint Declaration of Intent in Tashkent.
Đurđević Stamenkovski is leading the Serbian government delegation at the International Forum on Migration in Uzbekistan’s capital. According to Serbia’s Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the declaration marks the formal start of talks on a future agreement between the two countries.
The ministry said this would be the first labor mobility agreement Serbia has launched with a foreign country. Officials described Uzbekistan as a country with strong economic growth and said Belgrade is deepening relations with Tashkent toward a strategic partnership.
Đurđević Stamenkovski said the goal of the future agreement is to establish an efficient mechanism that would allow labor migration to take place only within legal, safe and controlled frameworks, with clear rules and full institutional oversight by the state.
“Serbia wants an orderly labor market, clear procedures and a system in which every process will be under the control of state institutions,” the minister said, according to Serbian media reports.
She added that anyone coming to Serbia for temporary work would be required to respect Serbian laws, institutions, culture, tradition and social order.
A key part of the proposed arrangement would include preparations for Uzbek citizens before their arrival in Serbia. Serbian officials said Uzbekistan has expressed readiness for its workers to receive preparation that would include familiarization with the Serbian language, in order to help them integrate more easily into the workplace and everyday life in Serbia.
Đurđević Stamenkovski said the aim is for labor migration to be legal, safe, organized and supportive of Serbia’s economic development, while also preventing irregular and illegal migration flows.
She emphasized that Serbia would conduct labor mobility and migration policy in line with national laws, the needs of the domestic economy and the interests of Serbian citizens.
