Armenia’s negative migration balance totalled 31,800 people in the first quarter of this year, as compared to 37,100 in the same period of 2013, the head of Armenia’s state migration service Gagik Yeganyan said, according to ARKA.

As Yeganyan noted at an international conference on legal migration and migration dynamics Tuesday, March 6, Russia’s toughened migration policies have somehow contributed to the figure.

“According to experts’ assessments, flow of Armenian labor migrants to Russia has dropped, as we received a list of some 40,000 Armenian citizens who are not allowed entry to Russia. This list may be extended in future. This will, of course, have an impact on the volume of money transfers from the Russian Federation,” Yeganyan said.

A representative of the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) Alexander Maleev said labor migration will grow particularly in Balkan and CIS countries during 2014.

The causes of migration are the same all over the world – low salaries, limited career opportunities, poverty, unemployment and low-level social security, he said.

The two-day conference is attended by experts from Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Ukraine, Hungary. The head of EU delegation to Armenia Traian Hristea was present at the conference opening ceremony.