Remittances from Sri Lankan migrant workers which had dropped to around US$ 220 million in recent times has now increased to US$ 360 million monthly, Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara said.
In a few months, 11,000 Sri Lankans will have job opportunities in Japan and Malaysia, Minister Nanayakkara said.
Speaking to the Daily News, the Minister said that Malaysia is offering 10,000 jobs for suitable Sri Lankans in multiple employment fields, while Japan has agreed to recruit 1,000 Sri Lankans as healthcare attendants.
A high-powered Malaysian delegation headed by its Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan is due in Sri Lanka this month to sign the agreement offering 10,000 jobs to Sri Lankans.
In the meantime the G.T.N. Global Trust Network in Japan, a leading organization engaged in employing migrant workers on a large scale, has promised Minister Nanayakkara to provide job opportunities initially for 1,000 Sri Lankans as healthcare attendants in Japan shortly. The job quota will be increased from time to time depending on the performance and conduct of the Sri Lankans recruits.
“‘We regret that in the past the Sri Lankan migrant workers were given step-motherly treatment ignoring their role in providing the country with valuable foreign exchange. Now we have, in a comparably short period, arranged a promising pension scheme called ‘Manusavi’, which offers a pension ranging from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 100,000 for retired migrant workers. We have also opened the ‘Hope Gate’ at Bandaranaike International Airport to facilitate the travel of migrant workers. Under this project a specially designed, well-equipped restroom will be built in the airport premises in the near future.”
“We have also facilitated those migrant workers who regularly remit foreign currencies to import an electric vehicle depending on the amount of foreign exchange they send to Sri Lanka,” Minister Nanayakkara said.
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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