Labour pact between India, UAE by next year

The labour pact signed between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to safeguard the interests of the Indian workers in that country would be in place by next year, India's envoy to the UAE Talmiz Ahmad said. He was confident that, when in place, it would be fair, transparent and effective. "Both the UAE government and the Indian embassy would act as the watchdog to this longstanding demand," the ambassador said.

Based on the agreement, a joint three-point programme was finalised by both the Indian mission and the UAE government wherein it includes transparency in the contracting system. Henceforth, there would be a contract between the employer and the employee and it would have four copies, with copies given to both the UAE government and the Indian embassy. The other significant aspect would be the scrutiny of all existing contracts and also the setting up of a grievance mechanism cell in the UAE.

There are approximately 1.4 million Indians in the UAE.