Korea doubles jobs for Sri Lankans

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

The Korean Government has pledged to increase the present 5,000 - 7,500 jobs to 15,000 to boost the foreign employment sector in Sri Lanka.

This is a sequel to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's bilateral talks with the Korean Commerce Minister during his recent visit to Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa was keen that the present number of jobs be increased to 15,000, Foreign Employment and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

From this year, we could provide 15,000 job opportunities to Sri Lankans in Korea. This would help promote the foreign employment sector, he said.

The Minister also held discussions with officials of the Italian Embassy in Sri Lanka to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Italian authorities in connection with the 3,500 jobs offered annually by the Italian Government to Sri Lanka.

The Minister said that these jobs are now grabbed by Sri Lankan illegal immigrants. Therefore, the Government is exploring the possibility of providing job opportunities to genuine applicants as well.

Sri Lanka received the highest number of jobs from Italy due to the efficiency of the officers appointed by the President. "The general feeling in certain quarters that some countries in the European Union are not very much in favour of Sri Lanka is not true, because Italy has always been a very close friend of Sri Lanka.

The Ministry has also drawn its attention to job opportunities available in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore and Cyprus . The Ministry is keen on the job market in Qatar. The Ministry has an interest in the European market as well. Job opportunities have also been created in countries such as Poland and Romania which have become EU members, he said.