RIYADH — Djibouti and Niger have been added among the countries with which Saudi Arabia has signed agreements to hire domestic workers. Agreements to this effect were signed in Geneva on the sidelines of the 104th session of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday. Minister of Labor Mufrej Al-Haqbani said his ministry is planing to increase the number of countries for recruitment of workers and open new markets to meet the growing demand for domestic workers. With the addition of Djibouti and Niger, the number of countries with which Saudi Arabia has signed agreements for the recruitment of domestic workers has risen to eight, which includes Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Nepal, India and Pakistan. On Saturday, Haqbani called on the labor exporting countries with which the Kingdom has signed agreements to expedite recruitment procedures for domestic workers. Haqbani said the agreements signed with these countries will streamline the recruitment process, control cost, as well as facilitate and expedite the procedure for the arrival of domestic workers. He stressed the compliance with the training of workers and monitoring the offices that send workers. Haqbani called on the representatives to control the involvement of middlemen in the recruitment process. He said the ministry can now receives workers' complaints in Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Bahasa, Tagalog, Amharic, Malayalam and Bangla.
