RIYADH: The recruitment cost of a housemaid from Cambodia will be SR7,000 as against the standard processing fees of around SR20,000 from other countries, Ministry of Labor sources said here on Monday.

Early this month, the Kingdom and Cambodia signed a labor deal to recruit domestic aides and general workers from Phnom Penh.

The agreement was signed here by Labor Minister Mufrej Al-Haqabani and his Cambodian counterpart Ait Samana at the headquarters of the Labor Ministry here. The deal was aimed at expanding areas of recruitment of new cadres in the field of foreign employment.

As a sequel to the deal, the Cambodian government set up 42 recruiting offices in the country to send domestic aides to the Kingdom from next month , according to an official from the MoL.

Under the new labor agreement, the monthly wage for Cambodian maids has been fixed from SR700 to 800.

The Kingdom was keen on diversifying its sources of manpower exporting countries because of the rising cost in the recruitment fees which ranges from SR 15,000 to 20,000.

Director general of the bilateral relations in the Ministry of Labor Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sharekh said the quick formation of these recruiting centers is mainly due to the hard work done by the Cambodian government which is keen on supplying the required manpower to the Kingdom.

“The ministry is working to diversify the channels and mechanisms of recruiting female domestic workers to the Kingdom to increase options and competitiveness in the market amid growing demand for maids,” Al-Sharekh said.