The Permanent Secretary (PS) of Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, Mod A.K. Secka, has revealed that 50 Gambians are needed for a pilot circular migration agreement between The Gambia and Spain.
PS Mod Secka made this revelation before the committee of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the National Assembly.
"The pilot is for 50, if that works out very well, it can expand. We want to give it a trial, and on the basis of the success of this trial, we can then expand it to other people," he said.
He highlighted some essential aspects of the initiative: "On the agreement, we are starting with them on the agricultural sector. The agreement is, people who are leaving will be picking fruits on these farms in Spain.
"The agreement between Spain and Gambia is government to government, meaning that the farmers who are going to be beneficiaries will be working through their government, the Government of the Gambia and the Ministry of Trade in particular are the key actors.
"But we also have the Department of Labour, who is an arm to implement this Spanish agreement."
He informed that the process of recruitment has commenced and forms are distributed to youth centres across the country and at the Department of Labour, adding that the process will last for two weeks to identify the qualified individuals.
Mr Secka said they are yet to agree on wages for the potential migrants: "We have not yet agreed on the wages, the agreement is such that the farmers will come from Spain when we are doing the final selection. So we will shortlist a certain number and they will come and pick out of that number, then wages will be discussed from there."
He also stated: "As you know, the Ministry of Trade has two bilateral labour agreements: one with Saudi Arabia and another one with Spain. The one with Saudi Arabia was signed, ratified, and is also being implemented.
"The arrangement with Saudi is such that you have private recruitment agencies from Saudi who are also supposed to work with their partners in The Gambia, who would also be private recruitment agencies.
"As of date, the Ministry has recruited 16 of these private recruitment agencies in the country, but so far only three are in the process of recruiting because of technical reasons. The Saudis are using a system called MOSANET, and because of this MOSANET, the recruiting agencies in the Gambia are supposed to be familiarized, trained, and given access.
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"So far, only three agencies have gone through that process successfully, and that is why they are the ones who are doing the recruitment now. In addition to that, the recruiting agencies have started the recruitment process. We have two of them who have gone very far.
"One is called GAMJOBS; so far, they have enlisted 8,139 potential participants, but given the process, it is only 12 of them who have now gotten visas, and 40 have already been on the MOSANET and they are being processed.
"We have another agency called OUTSOURCE, and with OUTSOURCE, they have enlisted 1,335 Gambians out of that 10 have been given visas, and 55 are under processing as we speak."
According to the PS, potential migrants to Saudi Arabia would be paid $200 as a take-home pay every month.
"We are looking at around $200 monthly payment for each Gambian as your net take-home pay and this excludes your food, housing, medical as all those are covered in the scheme," he explained. "However, the government is trying to negotiate for more pay per month for Gambians."
