The Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment said that although the President had given notice on three occasions to extend the time given to the migrant workers to issue letters of credit related to the licenses given to import electric vehicles based on the money they sent, but some officials in the Ministry of Finance since a very long time have not taken the necessary steps; Mr. Manusha Nanayakkara said.
Today, the minister joined the budget debate related to the Ministry of Labor and Foreign Employment and said that 900 licenses have been issued for the import of electric vehicles based on the amount of money sent to Sri Lanka by the legal system by the migrant workers, and through this, it has been possible to bring in an amount of 100 million dollars.
The Minister pointed out that some officials in the Ministry of Finance have been working in the relevant positions since the time when the former presidents were in office and special attention should be paid to their behavior.
The Minister pointed out that many programs are being implemented to encourage migrant workers and all of them have received the approval of the Cabinet and the President and emphasized that due to the actions of some officials, it has not been possible to implement those decisions.
“The cabinet approved to provide duty concessions based on the original quantity of migrant workers sent at the airport. It was also decided to give more duty concessions if more money was sent there. But even after the cabinet has approved these and the gazette has been published, still the customs has not been able to give them tax relief,” the minister said.
The minister also mentioned that a special portal called Hop Gate has been established for the workers who go abroad and he pointed out that he has worked to give due respect to the migrant workers.
“A special gate called Hope Gate was opened at the airport to give due respect to migrant workers. There, a special program was prepared by deploying a separate team to treat and support our expatriate workers more. But sometimes we get reports that the immigration department gives a little step-motherly care for this. In addition, vouchers have been issued to the families of women who are going to work abroad for the first time.
Meanwhile, the minister also mentioned that many new job opportunities will be created for the workers of this country in Japan and Israel. The minister also announced that many jobs will be opened in Japan’s civil aviation sector for Sri Lankan workers from the coming month of March.
