Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment, Arun Hemachandra, has held discussions with Israeli authorities on expanding employment opportunities for Sri Lankan workers across six job categories, during an official visit to Israel.
The discussions took place at a joint technical evaluation and progress review meeting of the coordination committee with officials of Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA) on December 22. This marked the first such review meeting since the signing of bilateral agreements to recruit Sri Lankan workers for employment in Israel.
The meeting reviewed progress and identified challenges related to Sri Lankan employment in several sectors, including home-based caregiving, agriculture, construction, hotel housekeeping and cleaning services, manufacturing, and restaurant-related jobs. Officials also discussed corrective measures and future actions to address existing issues, while assessing progress made so far under the agreements.
In addition, Deputy Minister Hemachandra held extensive discussions with Israeli officials on securing new employment opportunities for Sri Lankan workers. Both sides explored the possibility of increasing the number of job placements for Sri Lankans in Israel over the coming years.
As part of the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to facilitate recruitment in service-sector jobs. The agreement was signed on behalf of Sri Lanka by Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Chairman Kosala Wickramasinghe, and on behalf of Israel by PIBA Deputy Director General and Head of Foreign Workers Administration Moshe Nakash.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Population and Immigration Authority of Israel, as well as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Israel Nimal Bandara, and representatives of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment. (Newswire)