Gulf states to cut foreign workers

Gulf Arab states are chalking out a joint strategy to cut their large foreign workforce and ensure jobs for their swelling native populations, a Saudi official said yesterday.

The six Gulf Cooperation Council states set up a special committee last August to draw up guidelines for a new worker strategy which will be discussed by their Planning Ministry undersecretaries on October 15.

"The undersecretaries will present a report on the strategy to their ministers," the UAE daily Al Bayan paper said. The paper reported that the strategy will provide jobs for nationals by replacing expatriate workers with nationals.

Officials at the Riyadh-based GCC secretariat said a memorandum outlining such a blueprint had been distributed to regional governments, stressing the need for a strategy to redress the demographic imbalance.

Foreigners, mainly Asians, constitute a majority in such GCC member countries as Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, accounting for nearly 90 percent of workers.