NEW DELHI— Saudi Arabia and India on Thursday signed a labor cooperation agreement that will cover a quarter of the 2.8 million-strong Indian workforce in the Kingdom. The Agreement on Labor Cooperation for Domestic Service Workers Recruitment, signed by Minister of Labor Adel Fakieh and India's Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi in New Delhi, could pave way for a more comprehensive pact covering all Indian workers in the country, officials said. “This important agreement is the result of the excellent relations between the two countries,” Fakieh told reporters after the signing ceremony. “This would go a long way in protecting the interests of Indian workers,” Ravi said. He also thanked the Saudi authorities for the humanitarian approach during the seven-month correction period and the subsequent crackdown on labor and residency law violators in the Kingdom. The draft agreement was conceptualized during a visit by Ravi to the Kingdom in April 2013. Fakieh said the five-year agreement regulates contractual relations between employers and domestic workers in a way protecting the rights of both parties. "The agreement contains several provisions to ensure the authenticity and implementation of the employment contract, the recruitment cost, action against recruitment agencies violating laws and a mechanism to prevent cheating by middlemen," the Saudi Press Agency reported, quoting the minister. It also seeks to establish a mechanism to provide 24-hour assistance to domestic workers, he said. A committee of senior officials from both countries will monitor the implementation of the pact to straighten out any difficulties. Fakieh said the committee would meet regularly to discuss issues arising between the two parties from time to time. Okaz/Saudi Gazette learned that the points the agreement contains include guaranteeing the availability of health conditions for expatriate workers coming to the Kingdom. The worker should be of good conduct and his record should not contain any legal problems. Recruitment should be through licensed offices and companies only. There will be an agreement on a unified work contract. Fakieh said, “The Kingdom sees in India an important and effective partner on more than one level. It believes in the importance of mutual cooperation and coordination for the care of the joint interests.” He said the visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to India in 2006 gave a big push to the historic, well-established relations between the Kingdom and India. “The agreement, the second to be signed by Saudi Arabia with a foreign country after a similar agreement with the Philippines, is an initiative of the ministry in opening new recruitment markets,” he said. Fakieh met on Thursday with India's Vice President Hamid Ansari, who was formerly Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and will meet External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday. Indians represent the biggest expatriate community in the Kingdom with 23 percent of the total foreign workforce in the country. They also top in the number of expatriates who took advantage of the amnesty announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to correct the residency and labor status of illegal foreigners in the Kingdom. A total of 1.4 million Indians have availed of the concessions while 141,000 others returned home without penalties. India and the Kingdom will soon finalize a standard employment contract that would set out minimum wages, working hours, paid holidays and a dispute settlement mechanism. Although India has signed labor deals with various countries in the Gulf, this was the first time the country has entered into a labor cooperation pact with the Kingdom.
