Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka sign labour pact

Riyadh – Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka have signed a landmark labour pact in a renewed bid to regulate hiring of domestic workers from the island nation and to ensure protection to those who were already employed in the kingdom.

The agreement was signed by Adel Mohammed Fakih, Saudi labour minister and the Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Employment, Promotion and Welfare Dilan Perera Monday.

Saudi Arabia has plans to sign similar agreements with several other countries in the near future.

Riyadh has already endorsed labour pacts with the Philippines and India, which greatly help to safeguard the interests of workers as well as employers.

Major labour-exporting countries, such as Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam and Cambodia, are working closely with Saudi Arabia to sign similar labour agreements.