A special meeting was held between the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka Khalid Nasser Al Ameri and the Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara in Narahenpita yesterday.
Ambassador Khalid Nasser Al Ameri said that the United Arab Emirates has returned to normalcy after the Covid outbreak, and there are many job opportunities in the tourism, banking, and finance sectors.
Minister Manusha Nanayakkara requested that most of these employment opportunities be provided to Sri Lanka and the Ambassador responded favorably.
Accordingly, the Ambassador agreed to explore the possibility of signing a Memorandum of Understanding between the United Arab Emirates and the Government of Sri Lanka to provide more employment opportunities to Sri Lankan workers.
The Ambassador said that a special committee should be appointed by the Ministry of Human Resources and the Ministry of Labor of Sri Lanka to study the employment opportunities and MoUs signed by Sri Lanka with other countries.
He also said that there are currently over 300,000 Sri Lankan workers in the United Arab Emirates and that Sri Lankans are in high demand due to their good work ethic.
The Ambassador confirmed that he is also aware of the fact that certain individuals arrive in UAE on a visit visa and subsequently convert the same into a work visa which could lead to human trafficking.
He agreed to look into the possibility of obtaining a no objection from the Sri Lankan Embassy in UAE in the future to avoid misusing the option of a visit visa. (NewsWire)
