Expat workers threaten the Gulf: Bahrain MP

Bahrain's minister of labour told a conference in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday that the flood of expat workers into the Middle East posed a "threat to our existence".

Speaking at the 15th annual conference of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, Dr Majeed al-Alawi said that while the GCC employed 17 million foreigners, there were more than one million unemployed citizens.

Alawi said that 50 percent of projects in the region have stopped due to the slowdown. "But this is not accompanied by a decline in the number of foreign workers. Whoever thinks this foreign manpower in the region comes for a project and leaves on its completion is wrong," he added.

"This way countries were lost and we, in the Gulf, are facing the same threat. If this is not happening now, it will happen in the next generation," the minister said.

Alawi is focusing on education and the labour market. He is currently driving labour reforms in Bahrain.

This way countries were lost and we, in the Gulf, are facing the same threat. If this is not happening now, it will happen in the next generation

Dr Majeed al-Alawi, Bahrain minister of labour