According to a recent report, the Ministry of Labor is considering a new mechanism whereby Gulf Cooperation Council citizens would receive equal treatment with Saudis in the private sector and be part of the Saudization quota.
The move would facilitate the movement of the citizens between the six member countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman — and increase their chances of finding employment.
In my view, that would be a landmark in the history of the region and pave the way for closer cooperation among Gulf states. It may even be precursor for the creation of a GCC union similar to the European Union. The move would not only help solve the problem of unemployment in these countries but would also address many other problems facing the Gulf states, particularly the disintegration of the region’s social fabric in states where foreign workers make up more than 85 percent of the population.
If allowed to continue unchecked, this huge discrepancy in the population structure could ultimately lead to the obliteration of these countries’ cultural identity and eventually end what has come to be known as their “special status”. It may not be too long before the Gulf citizens become immigrants in their own countries. It already happened in Palestine, where the culture and civilization of the European Jew has become dominant, rendering the Palestinians strangers in their own country. Now the number of Palestinians in the diaspora far exceeds their number inside Palestine.
The Gulf states face another problem; the cash drain resulting from the remittances of foreign workers, which is estimated to be in the region of $20 billion annually. A substantial part of the foreign workforce is illiterate, unskilled and ignorant of the basic requirements of modern life. They are a main source of crime and an obstacle to the region’s development and progress. It is well known that illiteracy and ignorance are the enemies of progress. The solution lies in replacing the foreigners with a Gulf work force.
