Al-Haqbani admits failure in Saudization in some sectors

Minister of Labor Mofrej Al-Haqbani admitted on Tuesday that the ministry has failed to implement Saudization in some sectors.
He attributed this mainly to the lack of coordination and non-involvement of some agencies.

He made the remarks after launching an awareness program for the newly arrived expatriate workers. The launching ceremony, held at King Khalid International Airport, was also attended by Maj. Gen. Sulaiman Al-Yahya, director general of passports (Jawazat) and Abdulaziz Abu Harba, director general of the airport.

“It is painful to see the poor outcome of the Saudization drive in some sectors,” Al-Haqbani said while citing the fruit and vegetable market, limousine and jewelry sectors as examples.

He vowed that the ministry is keen on not repeating this any longer and will implement Saudization with the full participation of all the concerned agencies.

The minister drew attention to the new drive to fully Saudize the mobile sales and maintenance sector with the participation of five government agencies, including ministries of commerce and industry, municipal and rural affairs, and social affairs.

Al-Haqbani said that the newly launched program aims at making the newly hired foreign workers aware about their rights and duties and enlighten them on taking advantage of the rules and regulations issued from time to time via text messages in different languages. The program also helps the workers on how they can seek help from the concerned authorities whenever it is needed.

The newcomers will be given the facility to contact their families and relatives back home immediately after landing in the Kingdom.

Al-Haqbani said the ministry has readied full-fledged working teams at its contact center in order to extend the services for expatriates in their own language round the clock. “The center officials will distribute mobile SIM cards to the newly arrived expatriates at all the entry points to the Kingdom. The chip will have credit to make some local and international calls and send SMS so that the newcomers can make contacts with their relatives once they landed in the Kingdom,” he said.

The workers can also contact the customer service at the ministry by calling 19911. The chip also contains contact number of the diplomatic missions of the respective workers in the Kingdom.

Al-Haqbani thanked Jawazat, General Authority of Civil Aviation, and the Saudi Telecom for their support to launch the new service.