Dubai: Saudi Arabia has officially resumed the hiring of Indonesian house workers to the Kingdom effective from Thursday after a gap of 11 years, local media reported.
The Saudi Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Social Development for Labour Dr. Abdullah Abuthunain and Indonesia’s Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah signed an agreement to resume the recruitment of Indonesian domestic workers to Saudi Arabia in a number of professions. Under the deal, recruitment will be made through recruitment companies effective from the date of signing the agreement, August 11, 2022.
The agreement was signed in Indonesia during the visit of high-level Saudi delegation to Jakarta. The Saudi officials attended a number of technical meetings between the two sides during which they discussed topics of common interest in the labour market and the operational aspects of the new recruitment project.
The signing of the agreement shows the intensive efforts to break the deadlock with regard to the recruitment of house workers after a hiatus of 11 years.
Indonesia suspended sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region in 2011 following the execution of a housemaid after she was convicted of killing her Saudi employer. Later, Indonesia agreed with the Kingdom and other Middle Eastern countries to send domestic workers but the outbreak of coronavirus had delayed their arrival.
A few months ago, Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Indonesia had revealed that both countries were exploring the prospect of resuming recruitment of house workers. Indonesian domestic workers would no longer be recruited by individual employers but will be hired by companies that will deploy them in the Saudi labour market, the embassy sources said.
