Minister of Foreign Affairs Salman Khurshid (left), with Saudi Crown Prince and Defence Minister Salman bin Abdul Aziz in Jeddah, yesterday.
Jeddah: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid yesterday discussed bilateral issues, including the Nitaqat law, with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Saud Al Faisal as the Indian missions there scrambled to help over 55,000 Indian workers leave the kingdom in adherence to its new stringent work policy.
Addressing a joint press conference with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Khurshid thanked the Saudi kingdom for “the concessions that Saudi Arabia announced for expatriate workers to correct their status or return to their country without penal action”.
He said Indians are the most preferred community in Saudi Arabia due to their hard work and discipline. “I pointed out the contributions of Indian Diaspora in the economic growth of India and emphasised the importance we attach to the welfare of the Indians abroad,” Khurshid said.
The Indian minister’s visit comes when the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah and other centres in Dammam and the Eastern Province have issued a second lot of 27,000 Emergency Certificates to enable Indian citizens to leave Saudi Arabia for home due to the Nitaqat policy.
The kingdom last month announced a three-month grace period, which expires July 3, after which they will begin to deport illegal workers.
Under Nitaqat, it is mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. Over 300,000 firms in Saudi Arabia reportedly do not employ any locals and the Nitaqat policy seeks to deal firmly with this.
The new law also makes it mandatory for foreigners to only work for their legal sponsors, and their spouses can’t take up jobs. The expatriates cannot perform any job other than the one mentioned in their job cards - a rule which many Indians were flouting.
There are currently 2.8 million Indian workers in Saudi
Demanding a halt in the implementation of the Nitaqat law in Saudi Arabia, the BJP Saturday said here that it would work against Indian interests. “The Nitaqat scheme shall primarily work against the Indian interests. A minimum of two to three years moratorium to implement it is demanded,” said BJP’s Convenor of Overseas Affairs Vijay Jolly.IANS
