RIYADH, 27 December — Senior Saudi and Bangladeshi officials including the visiting Bangladeshi Minister of Labor & Employment Abdullah Al-Noman will hold wide-ranging talks on how to dispose labor disputes currently pending in Saudi courts, how to simplify official process to repatriate the dead bodies of the workers and a plan to deploy more skilled Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia.
This was disclosed by Al-Noman after holding the first round of talks with Saudi Minister of Labor Dr. Ali ibn Ibrahim Al-Namla here yesterday. Al-Noman, however, did not give details as how many labor cases are pending in the courts and how many workers are currently stranded awaiting deportation.
The talks, initiated by the newly-elected Begum Khalida Zia government as part of a fact finding exercise, were also attended by Bangladeshi Ambassador Mahboobul Alam. Al-Noman said that Dhaka will seek Saudi support to send more skilled workers including doctors, engineers, technicians and nurses to the Kingdom. He said that Bangladesh, which has launched a nationwide training program to promote its human resources, has upgraded a number of professional training institutions including 37 training colleges for nurses, which have enabled us to meet any job order from Saudi Arabia.
If Saudi government is willing, Bangladesh will also explore the possibility to launch a joint training program to cater to the diverse needs of the Saudi employment market, said the Bangladeshi minister adding that the new Khalida Zia-led government has set up a separate ministry for overseas Bangladeshis under the supervision of Maj. General Qamrul Islam. To this end, it may be noted that Saudi Arabia alone is home for over 700,000 Bangladeshi workers. It has been pointed out that Bangladesh can supply cheaper labor than India as most of workers from the countries are employed in same sectors such as cleaning, maintenance and lower administrative jobs. While the average monthly pay of a Bangladeshi worker is SR1,000 an Indian is paid SR1,250.
Saudi private employers owe SR200 million to Bangladeshi workers in arrears of pay. The major companies which employ Bangladeshis are Dalla Al-Barka, Binladen Group, Skab, Rajab&Silsila, Mahmood Saeed Group, and Al-Baik restaurant chain.
