Speaking to Khaleej Times, Feddah Abdulla Lootah, Finance and Administration Director of Tanmia, said though Tanmia was working hard to ensure that more and more nationals join the private sector, a lot of misconceptions existed in the private sector regarding employment of nationals.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the Press conference organised yesterday to highlight the Careers UAE-2007, a three-day exhibition aimed at creating job opportunities for Saudi minister unfazed by SR60b remittance by expatriates
Saudi Gazette: Foreign manpower recruitment in the Kingdom is directly linked to the needs of the country’s development process, Minister of Labor Dr Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said in an interview.
The ministry can’t insist on a specific number, he told the Al-Watan Arabic-language daily.
“As long as we allow them to enter the country to work, it is fair enough to allow them to remit their savings,” Dr. Al-Gosaibi said in answer to a question.
Expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia sent home some $ 14 billion in 2006, according to the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).
Remittances from Saudi Arabia represented more than half of the total transfers made by foreign workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Expatriates make up more than a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s total population of around 23 million, according to official figures published in September 2004.
The total amount of remittances sent to Arab countries — especially Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco — was around SR60 billion in 2006, a rise of 53 percent from 2001, the report added.
Foreign workers will keep roaming Saudi streets until there is a precise count of the number of workers the Kingdom needs, the minister said.
“We have started this procedure and we shall go all the way until we realize it. Infiltrators and illegal immigrants are purely a security issue,” Dr. Al-Gosaibi said.
The minister said the decision to replace male shop assistants with Saudi women in accessory shops is final and irreversible.
“We all know the situation in the Kingdom makes women’s employment more difficult than men’s. However this doesn’t mean that the task is impossible. It just needs more effort,” Dr. Al-Gosaibi said while commenting on why there are only 300,000 working Saudi women, despite the census showing they are equal in number to men.
