Abu Dhabi, Oct 22nd, 2011 (WAM)--The Gulf Cooperation Council for Arab States' (GCC) Ministers of Labour have endorsed the expatriate labour recruitment guidelines and policies, which will be submitted to the Supreme Council of the GCC to ratify them in the next summit.
The resolutions were reached at the GCC Labour Ministers' 28th session, which concluded on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi under chairmanship of the UAE Labour Minister, Chair of the 28th session of GCC Labour Ministers' Council Saqr Ghobash. Present were the GCC Labour ministers of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sultanate Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen, GCC Undersecretaries of the Ministries of Labour, senior officials, experts, researchers. The event was held at the Union Hall at Emirates Palace Hotel. The GCC Labour Ministers thanked President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, for good reception and hospitality during the event. They expressed their admiration about the development being witnessed by the UAE under its wise leadership, wishing good health to the leadership and prosperity to UAE. The GCC Labour Ministers appreciated the initiative of the UAE Labour Minister on holding a specialised symposium in the framework of Council's meeting. It aimed to exchange expertise among the GCC States and reviewing the regional and international practices regarding the expatriate labour recruitment and employment to reach a unified GCC vision over the issue. Following lengthy discussions, the ministers resolved the need for cooperation among the GCC States to develop policies and set new regulations and systems for recruitment of temporary expatriate labour. They also agreed to refer the recruitment policies to the General Secretariat of the GCC, which in turn will refer them to the Supreme Council of the GCC to endorse them. The GCC Ministers called for reviewing the GCC economic policies to create more job opportunities based on knowledge economy and productive projects with higher added value. They resolved to push forward sustainable development in communities through comprehensive strategy that takes into account conformity of the socio-economic policies and objectives to the labour market policies. This conformity should also observes the national identity, social security and demographic balance. The ministers called for reviewing the current labour recruitment policies through provision of environment and appropriate mechanisms to attract skilled workforce in the economic sectors with the high added value. They stressed the need for cooperation and coordination to establish appropriate mechanism so as to enforce the laws regulating the labour relations in the GCC States. The ministers emphasised that expatriate labour should not be recruited unless after making sure there are no citizens capable of filling the vacancy. They also called for unifying the system of professional qualifications and tests in the GCC countries based on the GCC and international experiences in this respect. The ministers agreed to set up a permanent committee headed by Saqr Gobash, UAE Labour Minister to study the papers presented in the specialised symposium on the recruitment of expatriate labour in the GCC, which was held on Tuesday.Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2011.
