Israel is set to bring 10,000 workers from India to staff jobs in construction and nursing industries, in a sign of deepening economic and political cooperation with New Delhi, according to multiple Hebrew language news sites, reported Middle East eye.
Reports say workers will arrive in stages, with 2,500 filling jobs in both construction and nursing. The final agreement for labour is still being worked out between Israeli and Indian officials.
“We expect the agreements to be approved shortly, and we will soon be able to start setting up the necessary mechanisms to employ skilled labour in a proper and supervised manner,” a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Population and Immigration said.
The talks come on the heels of Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s visit to India in early May where he signed an agreement with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to bring some 42,000 Indian foreign workers to Israel, with 34,000 earmarked for construction and 8,000 in elder care.
Israeli officials reportedly toured workplace training centres in India in March ahead of the talks. Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority described the Indian workers as diligent, experienced and fluent in English.