"Saudi officials assured us that there would not be any lay-offs of migrant workers including Nepalis this year as the financial downturn has nominal effect in the Saudi economy," Sthaneswore Devkota, the executive director of Foreign Employment Promotion Board, told myrepublica.com on Tuesday. [break]
Saudi Arabia had approved 80,000 visas for Nepali blue-collar workers for 2008.
Devkota is one of the members of Nepali delegation that visited three Gulf nations -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. The six-member team led by Labor Minister Lekh Raj Bhatta spent 10 days in the countries and assessed the effects of global financial storm on Nepali laborers.
Qatar, which is battling worse effects of the global financial crisis, has lately approved new 112,000 visas and 164,000 visas for Nepali youths for the year 2009 and 2010 respectively.
Saudi Arabia has offered jobs to Nepali workers in construction, manufacturing, service and dairy sectors.
"They (Saudi officials) have also asked us to re-open work permit for house maids to Saudi Arabia. But we are not in position to send Nepali women there, given the growing cases of sexual abuse, financial exploitation and other misbehaviors against women migrant workers, said Devkota. Nepali embassies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar are providing shelter to 14 and 2 Nepali women respectively at safe houses set up inside the embassies.
About 500 Nepalis are languishing in different jails in the conservative Muslim nation for over-staying, breaching employment contracts and violating local laws among other things.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment, a total 38,064 Nepali jobseekers left for Saudi Arabia, the second most popular destination for Nepali youths, after Qatar -- during first nine months of the fiscal year 2008/09. The number was 27,215 during the same period last year.
The Nepali delegation had held discussions with Saudi junior labor minister, office bearers of Saudi Arabia´s Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Nepali workers and embassy officials, among others.
According to Saudi government figures, altogether 207,500 Nepalis are working in the Saudi Arabia, which has the population of 23.9 million. However, Nepali embassy claims that over 500,000 Nepalis are working there.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
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