YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–"About 200,000 have left Armenia to seek employment abroad. Currently these people are working in Russia and other countries," chairman of a newly-emerged organization–dealing with problems of people working abroad Moushegh Shahinian told journalists. According to him–the actual number of economic migran’s is much higher–since some of them have already changed their citizenship.
He sharply criticized Armenia’s legislation related to taxation and banking activities–which–according to him–is the main reason for the exodus of people from the country. According to Shahinian–people working abroad annually send about $500,000,000 to Armenia. However–most of the people working abroad try to make unofficial transfers–thus–avoiding taxes. Shahinian stressed the importance of creating mechanisms to legalize the transfer of money.
The organization’s major goals are protection of people–working abroad–creation of relevant legal advice services at the Armenian embassies–study of workforce demand in foreign countries–etc.