Six-year labour cap not on agenda

Abu Dhabi: Foreign workers and employees of private sector establishments in the Gulf Cooperation Council need not worry about losing their jobs after six years of residency because the summit will not approve the recommendation.

Bowing to pressure from private sector institutions throughout the Gulf, GCC leaders will not discuss the recommendation during this summit here.

"It does not mean that the recommendation of limiting the stay of foreign workers in the GCC countries to six years has been cancelled.

"Leaders want to see the recommendation discussed by different economic, social and security institutions in the region before passing it," a source from the Saudi delegation told Gulf News.

The source stressed GCC leaders are willing to address the issues of demographic imbalance in member countries but not at the cost of economic development.

He said the current oil boom has given the GCC states an excellent opportunity to catch up with the development of their human resources and ensure that their nationals are being offered productive jobs in their own countries.

"Curbing the number of expatriates to create employment for local citizens is one way of achieving development but it should not ignore the interests of the private sector in securing economic stability," the source said.

In their meeting in Bahrain in October, ministers of labour and social affairs of the six-state council recommended a six-year maximum uninterrupted legal stay in any of the six countries comprising the GCC.

The ministers have also recommended tougher recruitment conditions, deporting surplus expatriate workers and making renewal of residence permits more difficult.

It also called for a minimum wage for nationals to provide them with incentives to join the private sector.

The recommendation of the six-year residency permit was met with great objections from the private sector.

Among those objecting to the plan was the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry which said that the 11 million expatriates living in the region out of 33 million residents were very much needed for the development program-mes conducted in the GCC states.

The chamber filed an official request for the summit to reconsider the plan which they said would badly affect the current boom in the Gulf.