Senior officials from member states in the Abu Dhabi Dialogue on Labour, commenced their meetings on Wednesday in Dubai to discuss transparency over labour recruitment, ensure legal, fair and transparent applications in job markets of labour-receiving countries. 

Organised by the permanent headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue in the UAE, the meetings were attended by the representatives from Bangladesh, Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, The Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the UAE, Vietnam and observers from the Swiss government, International Organisation of Migration, International labour Organisation, Economic Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and research centres, as well as a number of CEOs of private firms. 

Mubarak Al Dhahiri, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said the Abu Dhabi Dialogue was launched in 2008 with the initiative of the UAE. He added that it became a platform for dialogue between the Asian labour-sending and labour recipient countries. 

In his inaugural speech, the UAE official stressed the importance of the event to boost co-operation and partnership between the two parties to serve the labour markets and interests of all parties, as well as acquire best labour recruitment practices through bilateral co-operation. 

Al Dhahiri underlined that the UAE is committed to continuing its support to the dialogue, with an aim to improving conditions of labourers and protecting their rights in line with religious, societal and legal values that call for respecting human rights in the UAE. 

The participants reviewed the labour recruitment model and the need to tighten government oversight to ensure transparency and protect workers from exploitative practices, as well as harmonisation of standards and skills of recruited workers, and the need for jobs to be filled. 

The Abu Dhabi Dialogue is a collaborative government voluntary approach to address the development in temporary labour mobility in Asia. It was initiated to broaden the base for a common understanding of issues and to influence practices and policies in the area of contractual labour for the region. 

The dialogue focusses on developing four key, action-oriented partnerships between countries of origin and destination for development around the subject of temporary contractual labour, based on a notion of partnership and shared responsibility.

Source: WAM