Qatar has proposed preparing a unified format of employment contract for foreign domestic helps across the six Gulf nations, that heavily import workers from foreign countries like India.

The proposal was among the six major recommendations Qatar made at a recent meeting of the undersecretaries from the ministries of labour of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in Manama, a local media report said.

According to various estimates, the total number of Indians in Gulf countries is over 7.5 million. Indian population in the UAE stands at 1.7 million and the largest Indian population in the Gulf is in Saudi Arabia, which has 1.79 million resident Indians, making up just under seven per cent of the population there.

Qatar suggested that all Gulf Cooperation Council countries have a unified format of employment contract for domestic workers to streamline and unify terms and conditions across the region. It also suggested that all GCC states must explore other markets to bring maids to help reduce the soaring recruitment charges.

A meeting is to be held between the GCC states and major manpower exporting countries to discuss various issues with focus on making sure that rights of both the workers and their employers are ensured.

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