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| Sunday, 23 June 2002 |
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Overseas job opportunities for Sri Lankans Minister of Employment and Labour, Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe, was successful in obtaining job opportunities in various countries for Sri Lankans during his recent visits abroad. A press statement outlining the Minister's efforts in establishing contacts with foreign governments and institutions to explore job opportunities for Sri Lankans is as follows:- Discussions held in Malaysia with the Minister of Human Resources, Dr. Datuk Fonchan Onn, had led to the possibility of securing a large number of employment opportunities for Sri Lankans in Malaysia. Dr. Datuk Fonchan Onn has already submitted a Cabinet Paper in this regard and he is expected to visit Sri Lanka shortly on the invitation of Mr. Samarasinghe and sign an agreement in this respect. Mr. Samarasinghe was able to attend to the grievances of the Sri Lankan expatriate workers in the Middle East on his return home from Europe and provide instant relief when he addressed and gave necessary instructions at a workshop conducted for Sri Lankan welfare officers and labour officers based in the Middle Eastern countries in Dubai. Subsequently, the Bureau of Foreign Employment had made arrangements to send back hundreds of domestic workers who had been languishing in detention centres in those countries. In addition, the SLBFE had received firm orders for more than 1,000 jobs from the Middle East as a direct result of this workshop and steps had been taken to send Sri Lankans for these jobs through a process of competitive recruitment. It is now quite clear that Mr. Samarasinghe has given priority to formulate a national employment policy and a national productivity policy for Sri Lanka after he assumed office as the Minister of Employment and Labour. Another objective of his foreign visits was to find avenues for the benefit of the unemployed, and to formulate policies in Sri Lanka for the purpose. In this connection, Mr. Samarasinghe visited several employment service centers in the Netherlands, Norway and UK and is taking steps to set-up similar centers shortly in Sri Lanka. Minister Samarasinghe was also successful in playing a key role in the opening of an office of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in Sri Lanka in this connection. Mr. Samarasinghe had met the Director-General of the IOM on his visit to Geneva and was successful in obtaining its assistance for commencing an English Speaking Language course for potential migrant workers which would commence shortly. During Mr. Samarasinghe's visit to Singapore, he had discussions with Keppel Hitochi, a leading ship building company, to set-up a training school in maritime services to generate employment opportunities in this field, especially internationally, to Sri Lankans. During his official visit to Philippines, Mr. Samarasinghe obtained the consent of the Minister of Labour, Mrs. Patricia Spo, on the importance of convening an international conference among the labour exporting countries in the region. The Philippine Labour Minister pledged her fullest co-operation and assistance to hold this meeting in Colombo at the end of this year or the beginning of next year with the IOM as its Secretariat. |
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