Cambodia sets up over 40 offices for domestic workers’ recruitment

RIYADH: The Cambodian government has set up 42 recruiting offices in the country. The offices will send domestic workers to the Kingdom during the coming months, the Ministry of Labor announced on Thursday.
Last week, the Kingdom and Cambodia signed a deal for the recruitment of domestic and general workers.
The agreement was signed by Labor Minister Mufrej Al-Haqabani and his Cambodian counterpart, Ait Samana, at the headquarters of the Labor Ministry in Riyadh. The deal aims to widen areas of recruitment of new cadres for foreign employment.
Following the signing of the agreement, Al-Haqabani said the bilateral agreement was a continuation of efforts by the Ministry of Labor to strengthen relations between the two countries by supplying domestic workers. The Kingdom is keen to open new sources for its employment needs. The minister pointed out that the agreement would cater to the growing demand for domestic workers in the Kingdom and that the manpower supply scheme from Cambodia to the Kingdom would be further streamlined.
The director general of bilateral relations at the ministry, Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sharekh, said the rapid setting-up of the recruiting centers was due to the hard work done by the Cambodian government which is keen to supply manpower to the Kingdom.
“The ministry is working to diversify the channels and mechanisms for recruiting female domestic workers to the Kingdom to expand options for domestic workers, and increase competitiveness in the market to ensure development and control and to meet the growing demand for female domestic workers,” Al-Sharekh said.
He said that recruitment of domestic workers from Cambodia was done by electronic links between the two countries in order to ensure a smooth flow of employees into the Kingdom. Such a scheme, he said, would help the two parties reduce the recruitment cost and eliminate interference by middlemen.
Cambodian minister Samana, who is also the minister in-charge of vocational training in Cambodia, said the agreement would further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries and help the two parties come up with agreements to recruit more people from Cambodia.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cambodia will supply domestic workers who are qualified and competent to handle household chores in their workplaces.
The employees should be well trained in their fields and should be familiar with the social and cultural environment of the host country.
The important features of the new agreement also include minimum monthly wages, working conditions, the cost of recruitment, the length of the contract and other clauses that will protect the interests of both employer and employee.