RIYADH – Minister of Labor Mufrej Al-Haqbani has directed the launching of a new Saudization program called "Guided Localization" under the minister's direct supervision. Al-Haqbani urged leaders in the employment sector to extend all types of support to this program that aims at tackling hurdles in achieving Saudization and realizing total or partial Saudization in some sectors, especially the retail sector. There are four stages under this program. The first pertains to sectoral planning under which the ministry will work in coordination with the targeted sectors in working out plan for Saudization and training with the objective of phased replacement of foreigners with Saudis in highly skilled and semi-skilled jobs in the private sector. The second is regional intervention, which aims at strengthening work with the provincial governorates to support Saudization program for each province in accordance with the types of activities in those regions with the support of the emirs. The third is total Saudization of some trades in cooperation with other ministries, and these will start with Saudization of the sale and maintenance sector of mobile phones. The fourth is linking the "Balanced Nitaqat" Program, which will be launched by the ministry soon, with the "Guided Localization" Program.
