Archive for September 19th, 2008

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The Government of Norway has provided Norwegian crowns 36 million (Rs. 664 million) to Sri Lanka in its effort to assist civilians trapped in conflict hit areas.

Norway urges all the affected parties to comply with international humanitarian law and ensure that those in need get the assistance they are entitled to, including humanitarian access and freedom of movement for civilians.

The money Norway is now providing will be channelled through UN agencies, the Red Cross and other NGOs.

The Government is determined to increase the job opportunities for skilled male and female workers and gradually reduce the proportion of female workers employed abroad, especially in the Middle Eastern countries, Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, Dr Keheliya Rambukwella said in an interview with a foreign news website.

The Minister also noted that the Government is giving high priority for the welfare of migrant workers whose remittances constitute a massive share of the total foreign exchange earings by the country annually.

The remittances that the country has received through migrant workers in the first half of this year is USD 1.5 billion which is not only a record for the half year, it is the biggest foreign exchange earner for any industry, Minister Rambukwella told Asian Tribune.

He also stressed that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made a public statement that he would like to stop house maids going out by the end of this year.

Therefore, in line with the thinking of the President, we have decided to phase out the number of house maids going out of the country.

“When I took over the Ministry, 63% of the outflow was women. Every year about 425,000 people leave the country for temporary and moderate employment and out of that 63% were women. In the first year I managed - and it was the first time in the history - the male category surpassed that of women.

We will manage to bring down the women category very soon to 30 to 35 percent” he said, adding that the Government after having several rounds of discussions with the employers in the respective Middle Eastern countries have fixed a  minimum monthly salary of USD 250 for this year only.

He said that further discussions with the respective parties will be made to get a further increase in the fixed rate of salaries.

The Government is repeatedly urging the public to be extra vigilant as the terrorists are doing all the things possible to create panic among civilians and thereby disrupting the normal routine of the general masses, Cabinet spokesman Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said today (18).

Courtesy: Government Information Department