Jakarta (ANTARA) - Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah met with Indonesian Ambassador to Kuwait Lena Maryana in Kuwait on Sunday to discuss the expansion of work opportunities in the formal sector and protection for Indonesian migrant workers.

Fauziyah asserted that it is time for Indonesia to gradually support the opening of job opportunities in the formal sector and ensure that migrant workers placed abroad have adequate competency.

"We consider that the competencies that Indonesian migrant workers have are the main part of self-defense, in which, by having work competencies, Indonesian migrant workers have protection for themselves," she said at the meeting.

The minister has two agendas for her working visit to Kuwait. The first agenda is a business meeting that will bring Indonesian migrant workers' placement companies together with business partners or employers in Kuwait.

"This is aimed at expanding work opportunities in the formal sector," she said.

Meanwhile, the second agenda is related to the dissemination of information regarding the Manpower Minister's Regulation (Permenaker) Number 4 of 2023 on Indonesian Migrant Workers' Social Security.

It is important for Indonesian migrant workers in Kuwait to know that the regulation is a replacement for Permenaker Number 18 of 2018, which is based on the principle of comprehensive and affordable employment protection, the minister explained.

"Through Permenaker Number 4 of 2023, the government has increased employment social security benefits for Indonesian migrant workers from 14 to 21 benefits," she informed.

She further said that the new regulation covers three employment-social security programs, namely Work Accident Insurance (JKK), Life Insurance (JKM), and Old-Age Insurance (JHT).

These would provide Indonesian migrant workers with comprehensive employment and social protection before, during, and after working.

"I hope that the increase in benefits and the various forms of convenience in services for Indonesian migrant workers would give better welfare for them," Fauziyah added.

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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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