Saudi, India set for talks on labour issues

Top level talks will take place in Riyadh next month in an effort to set up a new labour agreement between Saudi Arabia and India, it was reported on Monday.

The two-day Saudi-Indian Joint Commission meeting starting on October 31 will initiate talks on labour issues leading to the signing of uniform labour agreement with Saudi Arabia, said Rajeev Shahare, deputy chief of mission, Indian Embassy in comments published by Saudi Gazette.

India has been proposing an agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to protect the rights of the millions of workers it has in the region and has recently signed a similar agreement with Bahrain.

Shahare said around 3,977 emergency certificates had been issued to Indian workers during the past eight months - many of whom were awaiting deportation after their sponsors reported them as runaway or absconding workers.

Shahare added that the Embassy had been involved in around 296 labour dispute cases this year over delayed salaries to end-of-service-benefits.

Currently, the number of Indians in Saudi prison was 1,339, he added, detained on charges such as liquor consumption/pedalling (30 percent), iqama and other forgeries (15 percent) and traffic accidents (10 percent).

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