The move comes after the recruitment committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry announced its decision last week to suspend recruitment of Indonesian workers.

About 500 recruitment companies engaged in exporting workers to Saudi Arabia have welcomed the decision of Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar to set up the new labor export federation.

Informed sources said the new organization would streamline recruitment of Indonesian workers to the Kingdom after signing agreements with Saudis regarding salaries and other conditions.

There were differences of opinion between Saudi and Indonesian authorities on recruitment charges and salaries to be paid to Indonesian maids and drivers, the main categories of workforce imported from the Southeast Asian country.

Ramli Saud, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Labor Commission, said in a previous statement that Saudi Arabia had recruited nearly one million Indonesians with 97 percent of them being maids and drivers.

According to one source, Saudi Arabia receives 76 percent of Indonesia’s manpower exports while the remaining 24 are distributed in other countries.

Saudi Ambassador in Jakarta Abdul Rahman Al-Khayyat said he had noticed substantial decrease in the number of Indonesian workers being recruited for the Kingdom.

“These days we are processing about 200 visas of Indonesian workers daily compared to 2,000 in the past,” the ambassador said.

“Thousands of visas have been issued but there are only few people to take them,” he said, attributing the nonavailability of Indonesian workers to improving economic conditions in the country.

Meanwhile, an informed source at the Indonesian Consulate in Jeddah said the formation of the new federation would protect the interests of Indonesian workers.

“It will ensure quick recruitment of workers without keeping them long at training camps,” the source said, adding that the workers were kept in the camps for bargaining purpose.