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Karzai’s state visit to open Afghan jobs for Lankans: EAM
The Afghanistan government has jobs for Sri Lankans and an agreement towards this end will be endorsed between the two countries during the re-scheduled State visit of Afghan President Mohamed Karzai who is due in the country on Wednesday, a senior External Affairs Ministry (EAM) official said yesterday.
He said that, during President Karzai’s visit, agreements will also be signed in the fields of Education, Sports and on the training of Afghan nurses in Sri Lanka.
President Karzai will also preside over the commissioning of the Afghanistan Embassy in Colombo during his three day visit to the country, the official added.
The Afghanistan President was due to visit the country late last month, but it was abruptly postponed owing to domestic reasons.
A senior official of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLFEB) said, however, there will be certain conditions to ensure the safety and wellbeing of workers leaving for employment in Afghanistan.
SLFEB Additional General Manager, Mangala Randeniya told the Sunday Times that, towards this end, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed by the sending and receiving countries.
He said there are potential job opportunities for Sri Lankans in that country, mainly in the skilled category and also on foreign military bases. “At present, there are an undisclosed number of Lankans already working in several areas of that country, with the majority of them in US and other Western military bases.”
“However, I cannot give an exact figure, as most of them had been shipped to Afghanistan by human traffickers through clandestine channels, mainly from locations in West Asia,” Mr Randeniya said.He said the MoU will endorse certain areas where the Lankans will be allowed to move in, and specific work categories involving skilled workers and those intending to work at military bases.
“Unskilled labour will not be encouraged. That includes domestic workers, for more than one reason. Unskilled workers are paid less on one hand, and on the other, it gives a poor image of the country.”
“This is what is happening in several Middle East countries at the moment, and we do not want a similar situation in Afghanistan”, he said.
He added that recruitment of Lankan workers will only be allowed through recognized recruitment agencies that will have to register the workers with the SLFEB, prior to departure.
“No other recruitment channels will be recognised or allowed to sign up workers for Afghanistan, and the job categories can only be approved by the Bureau,” Mr Randeniya said.
Meanwhile, the industry reacted angrily to the current developments regarding employment in Afghanistan, saying it was never consulted by the authorities.
“We are the single largest stakeholder in the industry, where the bulk of the recruitment is done, but the authorities are planning on an MoU with their counterparts in Afghanistan, while the agents are kept in the dark.”
This should never be the case”, says Faizer Maickeen, Secretary of the Association for Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA).
He said they intend to take up the matter with the Bureau’s Chairman Amal Senadhilankara and other senior officials at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow.
On the ground situation in Afghanistan, he said that there were job opportunities for skilled workers, mainly in the construction and maintenance sector, while factories could also be reached later on.