Shoura members want foreign embassies to employ Saudis

Some Saudis are demanding that Saudi citizens be recruited at foreign diplomatic missions in the Kingdom. They also want more Saudis employed in Saudi missions abroad.
Several foreign missions in the Kingdom, in particular the European Union member countries, are hiring Arab and Asian expatriates as local employees in administration and other sectors. Some members of the Shoura Council have demanded that Saudi youth be hired in the foreign missions as well.
“We recruit the best candidates for positions in the foreign missions regardless of nationality and any other consideration would amount to discrimination,” said Adam Kulach, ambassador of the European Union in Riyadh, in a statement sent to Arab News.
The ambassador stressed the fact that unemployment among the Saudi youth is an internal matter of the Kingdom but felt that the “public and private sectors would provide an appropriate and meaningful solution to the issue of Saudi unemployment.”
Abdullah Al-Askar, member of the consultative committee of foreign affairs at the Shoura Council, told Arab News that the “Shoura has recommended to the Foreign Ministry that it should advise foreign diplomatic missions in the Kingdom to recruit Saudi youth and also increase the number of Saudis in the Saudi missions abroad.” He said that although the foreign diplomatic missions post advertisements for vacant positions from time to time, no Saudis turn up due to a lack of proficiency in foreign languages and the low wages.
According to Sadak Fadil, another member of the Shoura Council, diplomatic missions of European countries in the Kingdom ask for a large number of visas to recruit manpower from Bangladesh "when Saudi youth could do the same jobs.” He requested the authorities to stop issuing work visas to foreign embassies if they decide to hire other nationalities.
There are a significant number of non-Saudis working in Saudi diplomatic missions abroad, he added.
Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Al-Nugali told local media that “foreign missions in the Kingdom are not required to employ Saudis as it’s a matter of the sovereignty of nations and it is also against the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.”
He said that imposing a Saudization policy on foreign missions in Saudi territory would give the right to affected countries to impose a similar policy on the Kingdom’s missions abroad.
He said that the Saudization percentage is gradually increasing in the Foreign Ministry and no foreigner is working in the ministry’s branch offices in Makkah and the Eastern province.
Al-Nugali said: "The number of Saudis in Saudi missions abroad have been increasing; Saudis represent 63 percent of the workforce now compared to 22 percent 15 years ago.”
About 90 percent of employees in the Saudi missions in Arab countries are Saudi citizens. However, the number is less in non-Arabic speaking countries due to language and lifestyle factors, Al-Nugali added.