Georgia, Israel agree to cooperate on labour migration

Georgia and Israel have agreed the two states will cooperate to reach a deal on labour migration.

The decision was announced after a delegation from Israel, led by the Director General of the Israeli Migration Service, held bilateral consultations in Tbilisi today.

The parties agreed to work hard to reduce the number of Georgians illegally migrating to Israel. Once this issue is settled, the two states will launch negotiations on labour migration.

Georgian and Israeli officials held consultations on labour migration in Tbilisi today. Photo: MFA of Georgia.

"The parties of the consultations have reached a principle agreement that at this stage the conditions of labour migration will apply to those Georgian citizens who are currently illegal migrants in Israel but agree to leave Israel voluntarily”, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The parties also agreed to develop in the "nearest future” a list of procedures which will be mandatory to go through after an illegal Georgian migrant leaves Israel.