Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, foreign employment is a vital contributor to Sri Lanka’s foreign remittances, with employment in the Republic of Korea occupying a special place. Over the past few years, the number of young men and women qualified for jobs in Korea but still remaining on the waiting list has grown. In this context, urgent Government intervention is required to extend the bilateral agreements under the Employment Permit System (EPS) with Korea. I therefore ask:

¶ 02 1. Under which bilateral agreements does Sri Lanka receive overseas job opportunities? Among them, can the House be informed category-wise of the number of job opportunities provided by the Republic of Korea?

¶ 03 2. Has the number of job opportunities provided by Korea decreased over the past five years? If so, what are the reasons? What studies has the present Government undertaken in this regard, and can those reports be tabled?

¶ 04 3. Qualified Korean job applicants registered on the relevant website are automatically removed after two years on the waiting list. Has the Government taken steps to prevent this unfairness?

¶ 05 Hon. Speaker, about 10,000 youths who have spent hundreds of thousands of rupees on training and tests will mandatorily be removed by March unless renewals occur. They now face a grave problem.

¶ 06 4. Is the Government prepared to promptly formulate special agreements or a priority mechanism to grant relief to over 9,000 applicants listed for Korean employment?

¶ 07 5. Beyond Korea, what new bilateral (G2G) agreements has the Government concluded to open fresh overseas job markets?

¶ 08 6. Under the 2011 G2G agreement with Italy, some candidates who passed the 2014 examination could not depart for employment. What were the reasons? What action has the Government taken to resolve this? Will the Government introduce a relief mechanism for them? If not, why?

¶ 09 At present, out of 86 who passed, many have been disqualified; one has even gone to Italy. When will the Government intervene to secure employment for the rest?