RIYADH, Nov 9: Saudi Arabia wants to create a white-collar workforce of Saudis in services and professions but does not foresee ending its dependence upon cheap foreign labour, a government official said on Sunday.

Deputy Labour Minister Abdulwahed Al-Humaid said between 8 and 9 million of Saudi Arabia’s population of over 25 million were temporary foreign residents who have effectively become part of the economic fabric of the vast desert nation.

“Our goal is not to employ Saudis in any employment but to give them the right job, to give them skills. Our goal is to train Saudis in jobs where they add value to the economy,” he said in an interview.

“I dream of a society where you have Saudis doing high-quality jobs. We need engineers, doctors, technicians. If we have to bring somebody from outside I prefer that it’s for simple jobs,” he said.

The labour ministry is trying to force businesses to employ more Saudis in a process known as “Saudisation”, three decades after the world’s biggest oil exporter invited Asian labour en masse to develop the country during the 1970s oil boom.

Having been a pioneer in use of migrant labour, Saudi Arabia has many experts and policymakers who rue the day they handed over overnight construction of a modern nation to outsiders because of the culture of dependence it has produced.

Expatriates transfer 60 billion riyals ($16 billion) a year out of Saudi Arabia to their home countries, Humaid said, second to the size of remittances from the United States.—Reuters