RIYADH, Dec 18: Saudi Arabia has assured Pakistan that there will be no large scale retrenchment of Pakistanis working in the kingdom as part of the ongoing Saudiisation campaign.

This was disclosed by the visiting Pakistani Minister of State for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Tariq Azeem after meeting his counterpart, the deputy Saudi Labour Minister Ahmad A.M. Al-Zamil.

According to the minister, the Saudiization drive has had no adverse effect so far on recruitment of Pakistanis in the kingdom. He said in fact manpower supply had risen from 28,000 in 1999 to 67,000 in 2000, 98,000 in 2001, 105,000 in 2002 and 126,000 in 2003.

The kingdom has the largest concentration of overseas Pakistanis, roughly 1.2 million, out of a total of 7.4 million the world over, he emphasised.

During the meetings with Saudi officials, Pakistan also made the offer to set up vocational training institutes in the kingdom to help train the Saudi nationals. Disclosing this, the visiting Pakistani minister added that the Saudi side had welcomed the move and further discussion on the project would be undertaken to finalize it. The proposed training institute would be organized and manned by Pakistanis.

Mr Tariq further said that his ministry was also undertaking the issue of setting up campuses of major universities and prestigious educational institutions of Pakistan in the kingdom, so as to facilitate the education of the children of Pakistani expatriates, whom he referred to as the second generation expatriates, living in various parts of the kingdom.

He also announced that he would take up the issue of setting a small camp office of the Pakistani embassy in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, home to more than 200,000 Pakistanis. This would facilitate their interaction with the Pakistani mission, especially with reference to consular services. Pakistan already has a consulate in Jeddah, besides the embassy in Riyadh.

The minister was on a four-day fact finding mission here during which he visited major cities of the kingdom to find out the needs of Pakistanis.

According to press reports here Pakistan has agreed to help Saudi Arabia overcome the phenomenon of the illegal free-visa racket. There is no such thing under Saudi law. Hence, Pakistan intended to crack down on manpower recruiters who sell Saudi work visas to overcome this problem, he added.

A large majority of expatriates from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh arrive in the kingdom on what is known free visas bought in their respective countries. Saudi employers who sell free visas offer the buyer only an Iqama (work permit) so that he can stay in the kingdom legally. However, this does entail nay job for them. They are thus required to look for a job for them.

Free visas are illegal and the Saudi labour ministry has recently announced that it would crack down on such companies that are involved in the trade.