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Monday, March 07, 2005
Pinoys in Saudi must upgrade skills: envoy
SOME 500,000 Filipinos are working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and they must upgrade their skills to remain competitive, Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Bahnarim Guinomla said Thursday.
He said if the market needs their skills, they have the potential of staying longer in Saudi.
He noted that the Saudi government was also trying to improve its human resources.
Guinomla said Filipino workers enjoy a premium as some companies there prefer Filipino workers than other nationalities.
"In fact, there are offices that post signage that they employ Filipino workers," he said.
He said with KSA's huge budget of 80 billion Saudi Riyals, more projects are expected this year.
It is expected that their government will be doing more infrastructure projects and more people are needed to do the job, he said.
He said more roads will be constructed and there are plans that their railway network will be expanded to other points.
Guinomla also said that in order to improve bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the Philippines, some six agreements are being worked out to further boost the relationship.
He said once the agreements are signed, it would encourage and protect investments that intend to create favorable conditions for both countries.
Portions of the agreements are on academic and technical cooperation between the Commission on Higher Education and the Saudi Ministry of Education.
Technical and education and vocational training including research and other technical forms of cooperation are also being readied, he said.
These agreements, he said, are designed to enhance people-to-people relations.
Another agreement is also on combating the illicit traffic of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances within the cooperation framework of UN Conventions.
He said both countries are forging security cooperation agreements to combat trans-national crime and other crimes.
Guinomla said representatives of both countries agreed to work in a manner where they can expedite processes of improving bilateral agreements.
He said they are willing to cut bureaucratic red tape to address concerns in the fastest way by communicating with each other in a friendly manner using channels such as telephones, fax or text messages.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (March 7, 2005 issue)
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