Employment opportunities for Fijians in lucrative job markets internationally are among the benefits of establishing permanent missions in certain parts of the world.
The less than two-year-old Fijian Embassy to the United Arab Emirates, which depends on foreign workers in their service sector.
UAE Ambassador based in Abu Dhabi, His Excellency Robin Nair, who is accredited to Arab and Middle-Eastern countries, said there were Fijians already working in UAE before the embassy was set up especially in the airlines and nursing sector.
“However, finding jobs is one thing but the condition of work is another thing as it is very important for us. We want to ensure that when Fijians come to work here, they are looked after well,” he said.
“There are already 25 pilots, 20 cabin crew, 25 nurses, some in the hotel industry and seafarers,” he said.
Last year, through the Ministry of Labour’s Foreign/Overseas Recruitment Unit, expressions of interests were called to work in the retail sector.
“In the airlines sector, Emirates recently went to Fiji and did some recruitment and Qattar (airlines) is looking at recruiting from Fiji,” Mr Nair said.
In the field of healthcare, the ambassador said they had to stop recruitment of nurses because one of the requirements was that they had to travel to the Emirates and sit for a test before they were hired.
Mr Nair said to ensure that Fijians are not caught unawares when they end up in UAE, the Ministry of Labour wants to see a contract.
“We asked them if they could allow them to take that test in Fiji to give them the opportunity to come across,” Mr Nair said.
The President has visited South Korea, Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Tel Aviv and met with Fijian personnel including military and medical professionals serving under the United Nations in Golan Heights, Syria and Sinai.
The economy received a boost in excess of $300 million in 2013 in the form of remittance that is channeled by Fijians working abroad which is a huge increase from the $93.4 million that was remitted to Fiji in 2000.
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