Konstantin Romodanovsky said the readmission agreement simplifies the procedure for the deportation of illegal migrants.

The second agreement, on cooperation in fighting illegal migration, lays down a legal framework and practical mechanisms for preventing illegal migration.

The third is an agreement on migrant labor and protection of migrants’ rights, designed to streamline the labor markets in Russia and Uzbekistan, setting out employers’ rights and obligations with respect to migrants.

Romodanovsky said Uzbekistan is the third-largest source of migrant labor to Russia (sharing third place with Tajikistan), after Ukraine and Kazakhstan, with a total of 500,000 Uzbek workers coming to Russia in 2006.

Trade between Russia and Uzbekistan is expected to double in 2007, from $3 billion to $5 billion, Uzbek Prime Minister Shafkat Mirzeyev said at a meeting with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Mirzeyev and Ivanov are co-chairmen of an intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation between the two countries, which is currently meeting in Tashkent.

Ivanov is due to meet with Uzbek President Islam Karimov later Wednesday.