Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2011-10-06

Proposed Agreement on Bilateral Cooperation on Labour Migration between the Government of the Italian Republic and the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

- with the view to reduce the trend of illegal migration to Italy, the Government has held negotiations with the Italian Authorities and a Draft Agreement for migration of labour has now been finalized to be signed by representatives of both countries. The salient features of the Agreement are -

* establishment of a Local Coordinating Office at the Italian Embassy in Colombo;
* the Italian Government will assist on the linguistic and vocational training of Sri Lankan workers to suit the needs of that country;
* recruitment will be regulated by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment and the Italian Coordinating Office; and
* Italian Government will issue an annual preferential quota for Sri Lankan workers depending on the market requirement.

The above proposal made by Hon. Dilan Perera, Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, was approved by the Cabinet.