Germany signs agreement on migration with Uzbekistan

16/9/2024 6:01

        Germany has
        signed a deal with Uzbekistan to enable the migration of skilled
        workers from the Central Asian nation to support the German
        economy and the return of some immigrants, Chancellor Olaf
        Scholz said.
        
        "We are enabling the necessary immigration of workers with
        great talent that we need in Germany so that our economy can
        grow," Scholz said on Sunday after a meeting with Uzbekistan
        President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.
        
        The two countries also agreed on "simple, unbureaucratic
        procedures for those who have to go back," Scholz said, without
        elaborating.
        
        He did not respond to media speculation that the
        agreement with Uzbekistan would also serve to deport Afghans who
        had committed crimes.
        
        "Otherwise, of course, there are confidential talks about
        cooperation in many areas," he added.
        
        Germany said on Aug. 30 it had resumed deportations of
        convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country,
        days before regional elections in which migration was a campaign
        issue.
        
        Berlin had stopped returning people to Afghanistan because
        of human rights concerns after the Taliban took power in 2021.
        
        German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who accompanied
        Scholz and who signed the agreement in Samarkand, said she was
        planning further flights to Afghanistan in order to deport
        serious offenders of Afghan nationality.
        
        "But we will see with which countries we do this in
        cooperation," Faeser said.
        
        The German government has no direct relations with the
        Taliban government in Afghanistan and the first deportation
        flight in August was mediated by Qatar.