International Trade in Services.pdf - DSpace at Khazar University

60 International Trade in Services
was created within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002 to receive job vacancy
notices from Spanish enterprises and match the job offers with the most appropriate
candidates through a large database. Spain also has similar BLAprograms with
Bulgaria, the Dominican Republic, Mauritania, Morocco, Romania, and Senegal.
Under the Spain-Philippines BLA, nurses and other Philippine workers are
allowed into Spain and are afforded the same protections as Spanish workers.
The BLAs signed by the United Kingdom with India, the Philippines, and Spain
enable the United Kingdom to recruit registered nurses and other health care professionals
(physiotherapists, radiographers, occupational therapists, biomedical
scientists, and other health care workers who are regulated by appropriate professional
bodies in both countries) for work on a temporary basis. The Spain–United
Kingdom agreement provides for the recognition of Spanish nursing skills in the
United Kingdom.
The BLAs signed by Greece are in the area of agriculture and fisheries. With
Albania and Bulgaria, the Greek authorities assess the annual need for seasonal
agricultural workers and grant residence and permits to workers from these countries
according to the demand by Greek employers. Under the BLA with Egypt,
which covers the fisheries sector, temporary labor migrants are subject to specific
regulations regarding the possibility to change employers and the extension of
their stays in the country and are eligible for the transfer of social security rights
and pensions on a reciprocal basis.
South Africa has negotiated several bilateral agreements with neighboring
countries in response to the growing labor crisis there. Under the Joint Initiative on
Priority Skills Acquisition Act of 2004, it was acknowledged that particular sectors
require skills from outside the country. South African mining companies fought
hard to keep their right to hire foreign contract workers, and the 2002 Immigration
Act was modified to accommodate this pressure. Bilateral agreements are focused
on recruiting workers from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Swaziland
to work in the mines and farms of South Africa. The share of foreigners in the
workforce of the mines rose from 47 percent in 1990 to 60 percent in 2000, but this
share has declined recently in response to efforts to hire locally.
In Asia, the Chinese government has negotiated several BLAs with willing partners
experiencing labor shortages, including Australia, Japan, Jordan, Korea,
Mauritius, South Africa, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. These agreements
are diverse and cover a wide range of topics in labor cooperation, as well as specific
numbers of recruited workers. In general, China has seen a substantial
increase in the number of Chinese citizens working as temporary laborers abroad,
increasing from 63,200 in 1987 to more than 500,000 in 2004. 10
The BLAs in which China is a partner cover diverse labor sectors. With the
United Arab Emirates, labor cooperation takes place in the areas of construction,