UAE to host Abu Dhabi Dialogue meetings

The UAE will host meetings of senior officials of Abu Dhabi Dialogue for labour-sending and labour-receiving countries on May 11-12 in Dubai.

Dr. Omar Al Nuaimi, Assistant Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation for Policy and strategy, said representatives of 17 member states in the Abu Dhabi Dialogue will gather in Dubai on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss bilateral and multi-lateral co-operation between governments of Countries of origin (COOs) and Countries of destination (CODs) to ensure legal, fair and transparent labour recruitment applications and labour mobility in job markets of labour-receiving countries. The meeting, he added, will also review current mechanisms for recruitment and import of workers between the Asian and Arabian Gulf countries.

Launched by the UAE in 2008, the Abu Dhabi Dialogue is a collaborative government voluntary approach to address 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 Abu Dhabi Dialogue focuses 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.

These are: developing and sharing knowledge on labour market trends, skills profiles, workers and remittances policies and flows, and the relationship to development; Building capacity for more effective matching of labour supply and demand; Preventing illegal recruitment and promoting welfare and protection measures for contractual workers, and developing a framework for a comprehensive approach to managing the entire cycle of temporary contractual work that fosters the mutual interest of countries of origin and destination.

Members of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue include labour-sending countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Members from the labour-receiving countries include, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Switzerland is attending as an observer state.
During the first Abu Dhabi Dialogue on January 21 and 22, 2008, it was agreed that properly managed contractual labour mobility can generate win-win-win outcomes, benefiting workers, employers and their respective countries. Governments pledged to develop partnerships to share information about labour market developments in their countries, build the capacity to more effectively match labour demands and supply across national borders, co-operate to protect workers at all stages of the mobility process, and enhance the development impacts of contractual labour mobility as a key outcome of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue.

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