A preliminary agreement to recruit workers from Cambodia sets housemaid salaries at SR600 and salaries for drivers at SR750, said Saad Bin Nahar Al-Baddah, chairman of the National Committee for Recruitment at the Council of Chambers of Commerce. The arrangement was made during a brief visit to Cambodia, in which Saudi officials arranged with Cambodian Ministry of Labor to recruit Cambodian workers, said Al-Baddah, who added that a draft memorandum of understanding will soon be signed by both sides. Recruiting Cambodian workers is in line with a plan to end the monopoly by some countries that send workers to the Kingdom and ease pressures on those countries, said Al-Baddah, who headed the delegation to Cambodia. Al-Baddah expects these agreements to contribute in reducing fees for recruitment from Indonesia, from SR7,500 to SR1,500, in the next two months. He said recruitment from Vietnam, which started four years ago, is not as strong as expected because Vietnamese people are not familiar with the Kingdom and its people. Regarding the Ivory Coast, Al-Baddah said a memorandum of understanding has been drafted, but an official from the African nation has not signed it. Recruitment from the Philippines has almost ceased, Al-Baddah said, because the demand to increase the salary for Filipino workers to SR1500 is “completely illogical.”
