New labor deal with Addis Ababa to be finalized soon

ADDIS ABABA: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Ethiopia Rashed Al-Hajeri meets Ethiopian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Abdulfettah Abdulahi. - KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwait, which has lifted a ban on employing Ethiopian domestic helpers, wants jobseekers from this nation to be psychologically examined. Rashed Al-Hajeri, Kuwait's Ambassador to Ethiopia, said in a phone contact with KUNA yesterday that he held talks with Ethiopian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Abdulfettah Abdulahi on terms for dispatching domestic workers to Kuwait.

"I have asked the Ethiopian minister to subject those willing to work in Kuwait - namely in houses - to training at habilitation centers and that they undergo psychological tests to avert the recurrence of some of the negative (incidents) that had prompted Kuwait to stop bringing in Ethiopian workers previously," Hajeri said. He added that he agreed with the Ethiopian official on working out a new deal for employment of Ethiopian citizens in Kuwait - a copy of which will be addressed to competent Kuwaiti authorities in the coming days.

A delegation from the Ethiopian ministries of labor and foreign affairs will visit Kuwait very soon to finalize the accord. Kuwait lifted the ban on hiring Ethiopian domestic workers after a series of meetings with representatives from the Ethiopian government, the interior ministry's assistant undersecretary for citizenship and passports affairs Maj Gen Sheikh Mazen Al-Sabah said in a statement on Tuesday. He pointed out that this is being done on compassionate grounds as well, as the holy month of Ramadan is approaching, "which invariably means more household chores for Kuwaiti families". - KUNA