JEDDAH, 21 February 2005 — Saudi Arabia is determined to eradicate unemployment within five years and increase the pace of Saudization, Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi told the ongoing 6th Jeddah Economic Forum yesterday.
“There is a plan to employ 120,000 Saudis in the private sector every year,” he said focusing on the national employment strategy.
The day also featured Prince Sultan ibn Salman, head of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, as the moderator for a panel discussion on tourism driving the development of national capabilities. He described the Kingdom’s tourism as one of the fastest growing sectors and offered the best environment to create jobs for youth. “Saudization is a reality and the SCT is looking to Saudize 80 percent of the tourism sector,” Prince Sultan said. The Egyptian, Malaysian, French and Maldives participants presented the perspective planning of their countries in overcoming the obstacles and boosting tourism.
The day’s session began with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi delivering his keynote address on the creation of a flexible, learning society. He termed human resource and capital formation as the two most important segments of a developing society. “Malaysia’s success is due to its concentration on developing its own people and paying attention to pre-primary education,” he said. The country has a program of reducing by 50 percent its dependence on two million foreign work force. “The guiding principles for any country ought to be not to ignore pre-primary education and prevent brain-drain,” he said and termed the multiracial, multi-religious Malaysia as a success story, because of the strategy it has adopted in maintaining communal harmony and paying due attention to education and training, aside from checking brain-drain.
Labor Minister Gosaibi emphasized that the ongoing program of Saudization was in full swing and all qualified and skilled Saudis would find jobs. The Kingdom has 75 training institutes with extensive courses for various professions and vocations. “They’re expected to train 300,000 young Saudis within three years,” the minister said, adding that education is also being given due importance with the opening of 40 more secondary schools Kingdomwide.
The apprehensions expressed by the private sector that they are still not fully prepared to Saudize their staff are unfounded, according to him. “They’re used to importing foreign labor for the last 30 years and naturally find it difficult to carry on without them. They should be able to get over the passing phase and adjust themselves to the growing reality of employing Saudi labor,” he said.
Referring to the employment of women in the private sector, Gosaibi said a large majority of families would not want their women to work in the private sector. He had received several letters to this effect, he said and emphasized that the families also wanted them to work only in segregated places.
“Women should either work from home or remain housewives, as the housewife also has a role to play in taking care of the family, especially children.” However, in the case of the private sector employing women in substantial numbers, it would be an ideal thing to provide them separate places of work, he added.
The minister also mentioned the Saudization of limousine drivers and said the implementation had to be deferred, as the companies were not fully prepared. “But then this has to come sooner than later and all private sector companies have to show their preparedness to implement the program,” he said. “This, however, does not mean that the Kingdom can do without foreign labor. We’ll still need skilled labor until our own labor is fully trained to take over.”
The post-lunch session witnessed an interesting panel discussion in which former US Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright was among the participants. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa taking part in the discussion said poverty eradication ought to be the topmost agenda for any backward or developing nation. “This does not mean that fight against terrorism has to take the back seat. It only means that poverty eradication should be tackled first, followed by the fight against terrorism, he said.
Brazil’s Foreign Relations Minister Celso Amorim gave his country’s perspective of foreign policy revolution. “Brazil is experiencing a new awakening toward the Arab world. This is inspired by strong links forged by history and culture,” he said. “Not all of you maybe aware that more than 10 million Brazilians trace their ancestry to the Middle East. We’ve the largest community of people of Arab descent outside the Arab world,” he said, adding that aside from the initiatives at the bilateral level his country has been seeking to strengthen ties with regional entities such as the Arab League of which it became the first observer country from South America in 2003.
There were also sessions on building the workforce for the 21st century, fostering innovation and creativity, and embracing womanhood.
The three-day forum ends today.
