Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – The ongoing negotiations between Saudi Arabia and India to organize the Kingdom's recruitment market have entered final stages. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor for International Affairs Ahmad Al-Fehaid said the two sides are awaiting approval of the agreement by the Indian Parliament before they can start implementing it. India will be the second country to reach an agreement with Riyadh on organizing its workers. The Philippines was the first country to sign such an agreement with the Kingdom. According to Al-Fehaid, the Indian side expressed readiness to sign an agreement to organize the recruitment market between the two sides despite certain problems. No specific deadline has been set to sign the agreement. This comes while the tripartite committee comprising three ministries – interior, foreign affairs and labor – is studying the possibility of recruiting from Bangladesh. Al-Fehaid said all of the parties involved have not reached an agreement on resuming recruitment from Bangladesh. He confirmed that any conclusions reached by the government team will be referred for royal approval. Al-Fehaid denied that the visit to the Kingdom by Bangladesh's Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment was meant to discuss resuming recruitment. He said there were two objectives – first, to express thanks to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for extending the grace period and, second, to urge Bangladeshi workers to rectify their status and benefit from the grace period. The agreement withe India is expected to control human trafficking and minimize exploitation by placement agents and middlemen. Migrant workers from India, especially unskilled workers, are vulnerable to exploitation because of their ignorance about recruitment procedures. A source at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh described the New Delhi meeting as “a first step toward a comprehensive agreement on labor cooperation.” He said this was an important move as the high cost of migration and job nationalization policies in host countries negatively affected benefits enjoyed by the migrant workers. The Indian government has been pursuing a proactive policy to transform the emigration system and empower migrant workers through interventions at national, bilateral and multilateral fronts. According to estimates, more than two million Indians live and work in Saudi Arabia.
