RIYADH, 20 May — The Kingdom has said it welcomes skilled manpower from Iran, especially in the medical field.
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Dr. Ali Al-Namlah made the announcement following talks with his Iranian counterpart, Sayed Safdar Husseini.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians work in other Gulf states, especially in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, but their number in Saudi Arabia is only a few hundred.
Those here in the Kingdom are mostly restaurant workers.
“There has been no official Saudi ban on Iranian manpower, but there have been almost no Iranians in the Kingdom for the past 50 years,” an Iranian Embassy official said.
Al-Namlah told the Iranian minister that the “Saudi labor market is open to all nationalities, and there will be no complications when it comes to recruiting Iranian skilled manpower,” the official said.
The two ministers also discussed prospects of cooperation in the areas of social affairs, technical education and social insurance. “We have reached an agreement with the Iranian side to set up a committee at the level of Organization of the Islamic Conference to coordinate stances on matters related to labor,” Al-Namlah told reporters.
Husseini also met with Saudi Health Minister Osama Shubokshi and discussed supplying Iranian health care personnel to Saudi hospitals, the official added.
About seven million foreigners live in the Kingdom, five million of whom are classed as unskilled workers — both Asians and Arabs.
The two sides also discussed prospects of opening the Iranian market for Saudi pharmaceutical products. Husseini welcomed the idea and said he would discuss the matter with the industry and health ministries in Iran.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have improved in recent years, with Riyadh and Tehran inking in April 2001 a security pact to fight drug trafficking and terrorism.
The deal between the number one and number two oil producers in the OPEC also touches on money-laundering, border surveillance and Gulf territorial waters.
The Saudi government ratified in September the agreement which was signed in Tehran by Interior Minister Prince Naif and his Iranian counterpart Abdolvahed Mussavi-Lari, following a landmark visit to the country by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard.
Iran’s President Muhammad Khatami visited the Kingdom in 1999, and the two countries have since worked together to stabilize the oil market.
