SAUDI ARABIA NEEDS 3000 INDONESIAN WORKERS: BNP3TKI

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Aug 23 (ANTARA) - Saudi Arabia needs some 3000 Indonesian skilled workers in the health and construction sectors, a manpower official said.

Head of the National Agency for Indonesian Workers' Placement and Protection Serive (BNP3TKI) for East Nusa Tenggara, Tumbur Gultom, said here on Sunday that the Indonesian workers needed by Saudi Arabia were nurses in the formal sector.

"Saudi Arabia also needed a large number of workers in the construction sector," he said when he revealed the results of a meeting between BNP3TKI Head Jumhur Hidayat and Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia Abdurrahman Mohamed Amen Al Khayyal in Jakarta recently.

He said that Saudi Arabia at present needed skilled workers in the health and construction sectors from south east Asian nations like the Philippines and fron south Asia such as India.

Gultom said that Hidayat and the Saudi ambassador in their meeting agreed that a plan to send Indonesian nurses and construction workers to Saudi Arabia would be discussed further between Hidayat and the Saudi health minister after the fasting month of Ramadhan.

"We have prepared a concrete plan for discussion after the fasting month. We hope the plan could be implemented soon in order to meet the Saudi need for Indonesian workers," Gultom said.

He said that in carrying out the planned placement of Indonesian workers abroad, the BNP3TKI and its regional branch offices would cooperate with various sides, particularly manpower supplier companies so that workers at home could be well prepared.***3***