Cairo, 12 September 2022 - H.E. Mr Mohamed Saafan, Minister of Manpower, Ms Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations, International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Mr Eric Oechslin, Director of the International Labour Organization, Cairo office, inaugurated the “The capacity development programme of Labour Attachés” on 12 June 2022 at the Sonesta Hotel in Cairo. The training is implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in cooperation with the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) for a period of five days, from 12 to 16 June.

The training programme aimed at providing labour attachés with the necessary knowledge on labour migration issues, as they will occupy their new positions starting from 1 July 2022 in a number of destination countries with a large number of Egyptian migrant workers like Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Iraq and Italy. The programme consists of ten modules dealing with various topics such as fair and ethical recruitment, negotiating bilateral labour migration agreements, social security coverage for migrant workers, and how to establish good relations with host countries. The training was conducted by a group of labour migration experts from the IOM and ILO.

In his opening remarks, H.E. Mr Mohamed Saafan, Minister of Manpower, asserted that the Ministry was keen to qualify all main and alternate labour attachés alike, to assume their duties and play their primary role in protecting the rights of Egyptian workers abroad and preserving their rights to recover their dues from their workplaces. Saafan called for the need to start listing the Egyptian workers in the countries of destination and preparing a database for them by being present among the members of the Egyptian diaspora in those countries and strengthening relations with them.

Ms Ugochi Daniels reiterated her pleasure to see IOM collaborating with the Ministry of Manpower and the International Labour Organization in the preparation and delivery of such an important training for the first time in Egypt. The role of labour attachés is key as they cater for labour rights, contribute to informed decision making and support the finding of dignified jobs abroad, while guaranteeing fair and ethical recruitment practices.

Mr Eric Oechslin, ILO Cairo Director indicated that the ILO welcomes the great efforts made by the Egyptian government to protect Egyptian workers abroad, and that the ILO is pleased to cooperate with the IOM to offer this five-day training programme to the newly appointed labour attachés. He also affirmed the organization's confidence in the training programme's contribution to supporting labour attaches to successfully deliver their future functions.

This training programme is supported by the “Towards a Holistic Approach to Labour Migration Governance and Labour Mobility in North Africa” (THAMM) Programme funded by the European Union and which aims to foster mutually beneficial regular labour migration and mobility for North African countries, and in particular to maximise the benefits of labour migration and mobility for countries of origin and destination, as well as migrant workers and their families. The THAMM programme is implemented in three countries Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco and runs over 36 months.