Lanka to participate in Jordan meeting

A regional consultative meeting with the participation of the Heads of Sri Lanka diplomatic missions and diplomatic officers attached to the labour sections of the missions in the labour receiving countries will be held in Amman, Jordan from tomorrow to May 15.

The meeting is organised jointly by the Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry with the technical and financial support provided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Swiss Agency for Development Corporation (SDC).

The three day meeting is convened under the guidance of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera. It is aimed at enhancing avenues of welfare and protection of Sri Lankan migrant workers employed in the region; a workforce that is estimated to be more than 1.5 million.

The meeting is also aimed at identifying and remedying gaps and deficiencies in the effective and efficient delivery of services by Sri Lankan diplomatic missions in labour receiving countries in addressing migrant worker grievances.

The regional consultation is expected to produce operational guidelines for addressing migrant worker issues in labour receiving countries.

The meeting will also provide an opportunity to raise awareness of international commitments and legal frameworks, the nature and future of labour migration, and to address other issues faced by Diplomatic Missions with regard to migrant workers.

The meeting will provide a platform to discuss priority issues on labour migration faced by the government and Sri Lanka's diplomatic missions including the effectiveness of bilateral agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) entered with Middle Eastern countries, standard employment contracts and future labour migration flows.

Heads of Sri Lankan diplomatic missions and officials of the Labour sections of the missions in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain, Cyprus, Singapore and Malaysia will participate at the meeting.

Minister Perera, will lead the delegation from Sri Lanka, along with Secretaries of Ministries of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, External Affairs and Labour.

Several ILO experts are also scheduled to make presentations at this forum on special topics including present labour market trends in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, international legal framework on the protection of migrant workers, effectiveness of bilateral MoUs and agreements on migrant worker welfare, and international instruments in safeguarding migrant workers. The ILO Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives will make an address on protection of migrant workers.