Kuwait, Ethiopia seal pact on domestic workers amid shortage
Memorandum of understanding set to diversify Kuwaiti labour market
Cairo: Kuwait and Ethiopia have signed a memorandum of understanding to hire domestic workers in Kuwait amid shortage of workers.
The memorandum was co-signed in Addis Ababa by the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Ethiopia, Nayef Al Otaibi, and Ethiopian Minister of Labour, Muferihat Kamil.
The Kuwaiti diplomat said that the pact aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries and diversify Kuwait’s domestic labor market. He emphasized the importance of informing Ethiopians interested in working in Kuwait about its laws and local house traditions.
The Ethiopian official expressed the government’s commitment to educating workers seeking jobs in Kuwait and enhancing their skills. No specific figures were provided immediately.
A Kuwaiti delegation, comprising government officials and owners of labor employment offices, is currently visiting Ethiopia to discuss a potential mechanism for rehiring Ethiopian domestic workers in Kuwait. Kuwait has been facing a severe shortage of domestic workers and is seeking to explore new recruitment markets.
Last year, Kuwait suspended the issuance of all visas for Filipino workers in response to what it claimed was the Philippine authorities’ failure to comply with a previously reached labor agreement. Efforts to resolve the dispute are ongoing.
In January, Kuwait implemented maximum fees for recruiting overseas domestic workers. The price caps for hiring workers from Asian countries were set at KD750 (approximately Dh9,000), and from African countries at KD575.
Despite the ban on new labor from the Philippines, the number of house workers in Kuwait reached 811,000 as of last October. They predominantly originate from India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal