Labor ministers from 57 Islamic nations will attend a two-day conference from Wednesday in Jeddah where they will discuss the legal migration of workers between these countries, Afghanistan’s minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, Faizullah Zaki, said on Tuesday. 

Zaki said Wednesday’s meeting will be the fourth round of discussions between the Islamic nations. He said in addition to talks on legal labor migration, the misters will work on outlining a single labor arrangement strategy. 

According to Zaki, Afghanistan will attend the meeting and also hold bilateral talks with representatives from a number of Islamic nations, especially Saudi Arabia, in order to discuss opportunities to send Afghan workers to these countries. 

“We want closer cooperation between the countries that send a workforce and those that receives them. Especially our country that so far has not signed any official contract with any Muslim country to send them workers,” said Zaki. 

This comes as a number of Islamic nations, including Afghanistan, struggle to deal with rising unemployment rates; while other Islamic nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Turkey have a labor shortage.  

For many years, Afghanistan has struggled to establish labor relations with some Arab countries. However, it is hoped that after this week’s summit, agreements can be reached.

“For the last 10 years government is working on this issue and so far we did not witness any results. But this time we are hopeful that the labor ministry convinces them (other countries) to put into practice these efforts,” economic expert Abdul Wasee Haidari said. 

In a recent report, the World Bank encouraged Afghanistan to reach such agreements with countries, especially Gulf nations.

The WB stated this would help decrease the high level of unemployment in the country and help boost the local economy.

According to the report, currently Turkey and Kuwait are the most suitable countries forAfghanistan to send workers to.