RIYADH: Sri Lankan white collar workers are building lucrative careers in Saudi Arabia, the island’s deputy foreign minister, Harsha De Silva, who wrapped up a three-day visit to Riyadh, told Arab News on Wednesday.
During his brief stay in the Kingdom, the visiting official held talks with Labor Minister Mufrej Al-Haqabani, Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Majed Al-Qassabi, State Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Nizar Obaid Madani and Deputy Interior Minister Dr. Ahmed Al-Salem. The country’s ambassador, Azmi Thassim, also participated in all bilateral talks held by the visiting official.
“I spoke to a joint group of professional Sri Lankans who had come together to prepare a Vision 2020 for a Saudi-Sri Lankan partnership. I have never seen such an organized group of Sri Lankan volunteers dedicated to working toward the development of the nation and increasing the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans living here. I salute them,” the deputy minister said on the eve of his departure for Colombo.
“Our people are happy in Saudi Arabia. Mainly white collar workers, I understand, are doing very well and are happy at their places of work and earning very well.”
“I was with a group of Sri Lankan professionals, accountants and IT people at one of the ultra-modern hospitals of the Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group, which is supposed to be the largest medical group in the Middle East and expanding. In this hospital several senior people are Sri Lankans and they want to recruit more. I asked them to think of investing in Sri Lanka. They will make their first visit in July.”
De Silva, who met Labor Minister Al-Haqabani, said that he would take suitable action with the Foreign Employment Ministry in Colombo to reduce the exorbitant recruitment charges to send Sri Lankan housemaids to the Kingdom.
De Silva said that it is ludicrous to note the recruitment charges for Sri Lankan maids, but their salaries in the Kingdom are lower than other housemaids who are working in Saudi Arabia. “We want to increase the present wages and attract foreign sponsors by reducing the recruitment costs,” he said, pointing out that the cost of recruitment for a housemaid in Colombo is around SR25,000 (Rs 950,000) as against the cost in Manila which is SR15,000.
“This anomaly has to be rectified through mutual discussions with job agents in Sri Lankan through the Ministry of Foreign Employment,” he stressed.
“There seems to be a network
of unscrupulous and perhaps, at times, criminal recruitment agencies, on both sides, who fool innocent women and bring them here to Saudi Arabia and abandon them. Abandon meaning in this case not there to help in case of difficulty in the workplace, and in some cases they end up running away from their employers,” he said, adding that remedial action should be taken to resolve these issues.
He also said that the labor problems among the Sri Lankan workers are minimal compared to the Sri Lankan population in the Kingdom. “Even this could be prevented through an effective pre-departure awareness campaign conducted among the outgoing foreign workers about the culture, environment and the lifestyles followed in Saudi Arabia.”
He said that he had a long discussion with the Saudi labor minister who expressed his satisfaction with Sri Lankan workers in the Kingdom and also pledged to recruit more skilled and unskilled workers from Colombo.
Sri Lanka has set the minimum wage for skilled and unskilled workers at SR1,125.
He concluded, describing it as a fruitful visit to the Kingdom, and stressed that bilateral relations between the two countries could be further strengthened with frequent dialogue between high officials of the two countries.
During his brief stay in the Kingdom, the visiting official held talks with Labor Minister Mufrej Al-Haqabani, Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Majed Al-Qassabi, State Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Nizar Obaid Madani and Deputy Interior Minister Dr. Ahmed Al-Salem. The country’s ambassador, Azmi Thassim, also participated in all bilateral talks held by the visiting official.
“I spoke to a joint group of professional Sri Lankans who had come together to prepare a Vision 2020 for a Saudi-Sri Lankan partnership. I have never seen such an organized group of Sri Lankan volunteers dedicated to working toward the development of the nation and increasing the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans living here. I salute them,” the deputy minister said on the eve of his departure for Colombo.
“Our people are happy in Saudi Arabia. Mainly white collar workers, I understand, are doing very well and are happy at their places of work and earning very well.”
“I was with a group of Sri Lankan professionals, accountants and IT people at one of the ultra-modern hospitals of the Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group, which is supposed to be the largest medical group in the Middle East and expanding. In this hospital several senior people are Sri Lankans and they want to recruit more. I asked them to think of investing in Sri Lanka. They will make their first visit in July.”
De Silva, who met Labor Minister Al-Haqabani, said that he would take suitable action with the Foreign Employment Ministry in Colombo to reduce the exorbitant recruitment charges to send Sri Lankan housemaids to the Kingdom.
De Silva said that it is ludicrous to note the recruitment charges for Sri Lankan maids, but their salaries in the Kingdom are lower than other housemaids who are working in Saudi Arabia. “We want to increase the present wages and attract foreign sponsors by reducing the recruitment costs,” he said, pointing out that the cost of recruitment for a housemaid in Colombo is around SR25,000 (Rs 950,000) as against the cost in Manila which is SR15,000.
“This anomaly has to be rectified through mutual discussions with job agents in Sri Lankan through the Ministry of Foreign Employment,” he stressed.
“There seems to be a network
of unscrupulous and perhaps, at times, criminal recruitment agencies, on both sides, who fool innocent women and bring them here to Saudi Arabia and abandon them. Abandon meaning in this case not there to help in case of difficulty in the workplace, and in some cases they end up running away from their employers,” he said, adding that remedial action should be taken to resolve these issues.
He also said that the labor problems among the Sri Lankan workers are minimal compared to the Sri Lankan population in the Kingdom. “Even this could be prevented through an effective pre-departure awareness campaign conducted among the outgoing foreign workers about the culture, environment and the lifestyles followed in Saudi Arabia.”
He said that he had a long discussion with the Saudi labor minister who expressed his satisfaction with Sri Lankan workers in the Kingdom and also pledged to recruit more skilled and unskilled workers from Colombo.
Sri Lanka has set the minimum wage for skilled and unskilled workers at SR1,125.
He concluded, describing it as a fruitful visit to the Kingdom, and stressed that bilateral relations between the two countries could be further strengthened with frequent dialogue between high officials of the two countries.
