(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah al Bakri, the Minister of Manpower has said that collective effort is needed to achieve the Omanisation goal and that the private sector needs to hire more nationals in managerial positions.
H E Bakri was speaking at the Ramadan evening held at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) on Wednesday.
The minister said that private firms should not go for foreign manpower unnecessarily and that the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) is always drafting new plans together with the private sector for its requirements of expatriate workers and trained national manpower.
''Private sector companies need to hire Omanis in senior level positions, too because the gap between Omani and expatriate managers is so big,'' the minister said.
''Despite the progress made, the private sector's employment of national manpower is not enough yet and the current status shows that most of them are in the low salary category. There is a need for private sector establishments to also employ Omanis for senior level management. It is not fair to employ expatriates in our companies while we have nationals who can do the job,'' he said.
Stressing that MoM has always tried hard for a true partnership with the private sector, H E Bakri said that while small and medium enterprise (SME) owners can hire expatriates, the ministry has encountered a rising number of cases where owners are working in public or private sector institutions and have left their businesses to be managed by expatriates. ''This is a type of hidden trade that we do not welcome. MoM is always in cooperation with SME owners who are genuine,'' he said.
''We are not against expatriate workers, but also we need to give chances to Omanis. SMEs are supposed to be for citizens only, but it is sad to see that these SME owners don't even know even what kind of business and staff their companies have because everything is left to expatriates. Real SME owners should be involved in the business,'' he added.
On tackling proxy businesses, H E Bakri said that MoM should not be the only body to monitor the job market, but private sector and individuals should do it too. ''We are all supposed to work together to meet the Omanisation target, and private sector establishment owners should work with the ministry to achieve this goal,'' he said.
He said that electronic links with different government authorities and proper data collection will solve the problem of proxy businesses. ''We are now in the age of technology and we hope it would help us curb challenges that we face in terms of expatriate labour monitoring and employment. It is just a matter of time,'' he said.
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