A symposium on Cooperation between Africa and Middle East on Labour Migration Governance was organized in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration, International Labour Organization and the African Union Commission at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababaon 29 October 2019.
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union Commission, Sumith Dassanayake was invited as a special guest to speak on the experience that Sri Lanka has gained on Labour Migration issues.
Delivering his speech, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake informed of the measures taken by the Government of Sri Lanka by entering into Employment Agreements with a large number of Middle East countries to ensure safety, security and welfare of overone million Sri Lankan migrant workers in the Middle East.
Ambassador also spoke of how effectively Sri Lanka makes use of the Joint Commission mechanisms that have been established with relevantcountries to take remedial measures to address issues that may arise from time to time.
He also informed of activities undertaken by the Sri Lankan Missions in the Middle East for the benefit of the migrant workers such as maintenance of safe houses, holding of mobile consular services, health camps, educational programmes on laws, regulations and customs of the host countries.
The Sri Lankan envoy assured the African Ambassadors and other International Agencies that Sri Lanka wishes to cooperate with them to address particular issues pertaining to migrant employees.
On the sidelines of the event, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake had meetings with the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Ethiopia Ergoge Tesfaye and Chief of Mission of International Organization for Migration Maureen Achieng, on the issues pertaining to Sri Lankan migrant workers in Ethiopia.
