Jordan-Qatar talks centre on Doha job creation initiative

AMMAN — Doha needs Jordanian competencies in the health, engineering, IT, education and accounting sectors, Qatari Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs Yousuf Fakhroo said on Tuesday during a meeting with Labour Ministry Secretary General Farouq Hadidi and an accompanying delegation in Doha.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed means of joint cooperation to proceed with a Doha initiative designed to provide 10,000 jobs for Jordanians in Qatar, with Hadidi affirming that the national platform for employment is “ready and available” for the public and private Qatari sectors, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Also on Tuesday, the Jordanian delegation met Qatar Chamber Second Vice Chairman Rashid Bin Hamad Al Athba over the need to accelerate the recruitment of Jordanians, and Hadidi gave a presentation about the national platform for employment "sajjil" (“apply” in English).

The two countries’ labour ministers announced the initiative in July 2018 at a joint press conference, and in early August 2018, the Labour Ministry launched the Jordanian-Qatari online platform to allow Jordanian candidates to apply for jobs in the Gulf country.

Hadidi presented the advantages of sajjil, noting that all Qatari private sector notices “have been considered” and that the platform has become the Kingdom's only official national system for employing Jordanians inside and outside the country.

The platform was launched last September, and has since witnessed the registration of 29,000 job seekers, he said, predicting that the number of applicants is expected to increase by 10,000 people per month during the upcoming period.

Lauding the two countries' "distinguished" ties, Athba said that "conditions are ripe" for Jordanian and Qatari businesspeople to build further partnerships, given that the investment environments in the two countries are "encouraging and welcoming to such developments".