Kenya’s Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore hosted a delegation from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday where they discussed labour migration issues between the two countries.
During the meeting, the CS asked the Saudi officials to consider extending more employment opportunities to Kenyan workers whom she described as the hardest working.
“The Kenyan worker is among the best workers the world has to offer – In line with my mandate to create job opportunities, I invited a delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, representatives from the Saudi Arabia Coordination Council of Recruitment Companies for a meeting to discuss employment opportunities for Kenyans,” she said in a statement after the meeting
Bore noted that the Saudi Arabia labour market is significantly large for foreign labour yet Kenyans only hold about 1.1% of the total jobs available.
She expressed optimism that the meeting bore fruits given the undertaking by Saudi labour officials to act on Kenya’s request.
She said the meeting was yet another milestone in the bilateral labour relations between two friendly nations on labour migration.
“The KSA team led by Abdallah Al Harbi, Director of Housing and supporting Department of House Workers, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, Saudi Arabia shared the various opportunities available in several sectors,” she said
The CS informed the visiting delegation that the Government of Kenya is undertaking a wide-ranging set of reforms to streamline the sector and promote orderly, safe and productive labour migration.
“We are developing a Labour Migration Policy and a Labour Migration Management Bill to promote foreign employment and enhance the protection of Kenyan migrant workers. The policy has been approved by Cabinet and the Bill is awaiting approval by Parliament” she said
Bore was flanked by Geoffrey Kaituko, Principal Secretary State Department for Labour and Skills Development and Rose Njogu, Principal Secretary, of the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, Representatives of Recruitment Agencies, Officials of the Association of Skilled Migrant Agencies of Kenya (ASMAK) & Kenya Association of Private Employment Agencies (KAPEA), Representatives from Transformation Trainers Association of Kenya (TTAK) & Homecare Society of Kenya (HSK) during Wednesday’s meeting.
