Sri Lanka to chair ‘Abu Dhabi dialogue’ among Asian countries of labour origin and destination
View(s):Sri Lanka has been unanimously elected to be the next Chair-in-Office of the 17 member ‘Abu Dhabi Dialogue’ (ADD) among Asian countries of labour origin and destination, it was announced this week by Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission in Geneva.
Senior officials representing member governments of the ADD at a meeting on May 11- 12 in Dubai, agreed to Sri Lanka’s proposal to host a meeting of senior officials and the 4th Ministerial consultation in Colombo in January 2017. The Ministers responsible for foreign employment of the ADD countries will attend the Colombo meeting. Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam are members of the ADD, the media release from Geneva said.
Kuwait is the current Chair-in-Office of the ADD.
The ADD which brings together Asian labour sending and receiving countries, seeks to boost protection and improve conditions of employment for millions of foreign workers in the Gulf
The statement said that the Dubai meeting, among other matters, discussed increasing labour mobility in destination labour markets, where foreign workers can move from one employer to another. It highlighted the benefits of labour market flexibility and internal mobility to workers, employers and in terms of the broader labour market outcomes, notably in terms of increased labour productivity, better job matching and an improved skill mix. The upcoming 4th Ministerial Consultation in Colombo will focus on bilateral and multilateral cooperation in confronting challenges that are associated with labour recruitment and consider alternatives to the prevalent recruitment models as a main item of the Consultation’s agenda.
“The meeting will also consider the findings of the IOM-commissioned report on the recruitment industry in the Asia-GCC corridors and alternative models of labour recruitment for Asia-GCC corridors,” the statement said.
The Sri Lanka delegation to the meeting led by Foreign Employment Ministry Secretary G.S. Withanage, included Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha and the Additional General Manager of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau W. M. V. Wansekara. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates S. J. Mohideen was also associated with the delegation.
Sri Lanka is also the current Chair of the Colombo Process (CP), the Regional Consultative Process on the management of overseas employment and contractual labour of Asia which comprises 11 labour sending countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.