High-level delegation from Ministry of Foreign Employment and SLBFE visit Bahrain to secure employme

LMRA President and CEO Audamah Bin Abdulla Al-Absi and his delegation conducting comprehensive discussions at the LMRA Head Office with the delegation of Sri Lanka led by Ambassador Dr. Saj Mendis along with Additional Secretary Yamuna Perera

A high level delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Employment and Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) visited the Kingdom of Bahrain, last week, in order to address the existing issues and predicaments of Sri Lankan expatriate workers and, more importantly, to secure employment opportunities in the sphere of semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled for Sri Lankans in the Kingdom. The delegation from Sri Lanka was led by Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Dr. A. Saj U. Mendis, along with the Additional Secretary of the Ministry Yamuna Perera, who was accompanied by SLBFE Deputy General Manager I. Pathinayake and a number of senior officials both from the Ministry of Foreign Employment, SLBFE and the Embassy of Sri Lanka. 

During this five-day visit to the Kingdom, the delegation conducted formal discussions with Ausamah bin Abdullah Al-Absi, Chief Executive Officer and President of Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), a number of manpower and employment agencies having close affiliation with Sri Lanka, migrant workers protection bodies and other relevant institutions. The discussions and discourse the delegation from Sri Lanka had with the Chief of LMRA and other employment agencies were highly productive, focused and fruitful.

LMRA CEO and President Al-Absi and delegation visited Sri Lanka in May and conducted high level discussions leading to the signing of an MoU to create and to augment skilled and highly skilled employment opportunities to Sri Lankans in the Kingdom of Bahrain. During this visit, Al Absi discussed critical issues of significance and relevance with the Minister, Secretary of the Ministry and Chairman of SLBFE, among others. The office of President of LMRA is equivalent to that of a Cabinet Minister of the Government. The LMRA is a body which has been vested the sole authority and powers to regulate and to control work permits and authorisation for expatriate/migrant employees and self employed, in addition to issuing of licenses for manpower and recruitment agencies as well as addressing labour market reforms, protection of employees and all other concomitant issues related to expatriate/migrant employment in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The LMRA is the apex body in the country with regard to expatriate/migrant employment and is highly influential vis-à-vis the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

During the discussion at the corporate Head Office of LMRA along with their delegation, Ambassador Dr. Mendis and Additional Secretary Yamuna Perera accentuated the challenges and predicaments confronted by certain Sri Lankan expatriates in the Kingdom. The Chief of LMRA and his delegation assured that the LMRA would address those issues in a mutually beneficial manner. He further added that the LMRA would be introducing a new recruitment system to secure the rights of the workers and reduce the percentage of illegal workers in the Kingdom. This efficacious course of action would obviously benefit the existing Sri Lankan workers as well as potential Sri Lankan workers. The delegation from Sri Lanka assured that an appropriate database consisting of potential employees of Sri Lanka would be compiled in due course, thus enabling potential employers to seek qualified and skilled Sri Lankan employees with ease. The Chief of LMRA also enunciated to Ambassador Dr. Mendis and to Additional Secretary Yamuna Perera that the Kingdom is eagerly looking for semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled employees from Sri Lanka in categories such as engineering, quantity survey, IT and ITES, accountancy, management and hospitality. He also added that most importantly that the Kingdom is seeking for care-givers and nurses, particularly from Sri Lanka, for the newly planned state of the art Awali hospital in the Kingdom, among others.

During the discussions of the delegation from Sri Lanka along with Ambassador Dr. Saj Mendis, most of the interlocutors including employment agencies and manpower bodies let alone the CEO of LMRA stated that the Kingdom wishes to recruit skilled and highly skilled Sri Lankans since they are known to be as well competent, dedicated, committed and honest. That said, most of the existing employers and potential employers in the Kingdom of Bahrain prefer Sri Lankan employees very much and urged to seize the opportunity. Ambassador Dr. Mendis complemented that most of the Cabinet Ministers and members of the Royal Family that he called upon echoed similar sentiments vis-a-vis Sri Lankan employees. For all record purposes, the remittances of the migrant workers are the largest source of income for the country amounting to approximately 9% of the GDP.