RIYADH — Minister of Labor Mufrej Al-Haqbani has called on seven labor exporting countries with which the Kingdom has signed agreements to expedite recruitment procedures for domestic workers. This came during a meeting of the representatives of the seven countries with Haqbani on the sidelines of an International Labor Organization (ILO) conference in Geneva. The aim of the meeting was to improve the performance of the domestic labor recruitment market and to open new markets for recruitment. Haqbani said the agreements signed with these countries will streamline the recruitment process, control cost, as well as facilitate and expedite the procedure for the arrival of domestic workers. He stressed the compliance with the training of workers and monitoring the offices that send workers. The minister of labor reviewed with the representatives of Philippines, Sri Lanka, Niger, Indonesia, Nepal, India and Pakistan the Kingdom's initiatives to protect workers' rights and to uphold contractual procedures. Haqbani called on the representatives to control the involvement of middlemen in the recruitment process. He said the ministry can now receives workers' complaints in Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Bahasa, Tagalog, Amharic, Malayalam and Bangla. Meanwhile, the Indian Consulate in Jeddah has clarified that recruitment of Indian expatriates including housemaids is continuing unhindered.
