Kazakh President warns of dangers of uncontrollable mass migration
At the session, the Kazakh leader underscored that the problem of uncontrollable global migration triggered concern. "Throughout its history, the humankind has never witnessed such significant demographic imbalance. If population in the developed countries amounts to a billion, then, in the developing countries it exceeds six and a half billion. Over the past 25 years the number of international migrants has more than doubled and exceeded 250 million people," Nursultan Nazarbayev noted.
The President pointed out that, according to the data of the International Monetary Fund, the share of migrants in the developed countries had jumped from 5% to 10%. Of them, according to the UN, 66 million are refugees and illegal migrants. Mass migration is mainly caused by poverty and wars and leads to rise in social unrest, crime and unemployment. Flows of migrants from the Middle East and Africa caught Europe off-guard and caused sociopolitical crises and other significant problems.
It should be noted that this year's session of the Astana Club brought together over 60 participants from 29 countries, including prominent politicians, former heads of state, diplomats and experts. The event is organized by the Fund of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Institute of the World Economics and Politics.