MGRP aims at encouraging Kuwaitis to work in private sectorKUWAIT CITY, Sept 17: Director of Public Relations and Information Department and spokesman of the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) Aseel Al-Mazyad said that 29,710 expatriates have canceled their work permits and left the country in the first seven months of this year. Al-Mazyad added PAM has completed 918,011 transactions in the first half of this year related to transfer, renewal and cancellation of work permits.Meanwhile Secretary General of the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) Fawzi Al-Majdali told KUNA that MGRP aims at encouraging the national labor force to work in the private sector with the cooperation of various state institutions, reports Al-Seyassah daily.Al-Majdali affirmed the keenness of the relevant bodies to train and qualify Kuwaiti youths so that they can meet the conditions for the available job opportunities. He said a committee with representatives of the relevant bodies has been formed to follow up the agreements in this regard and remove all obstacles that hinder the execution of these agreements.Confirming the availability of jobs for citizens in cooperative societies, Al-Majdali explained that the cooperative sector provides varied jobs for a citizen to choose from such as markets administration, financial and legal affairs, public relations, secretarial, data entry, storekeeping, treasurer, salesmen, engineers, etc. He indicated that the social allowance paid by the MGRP ranges from KD 534 for those who hold low academic certificates and those who have no children, to almost KD 898 for high-level graduates, along with the salary paid by the cooperative society.Al-Majdali affirmed that there are about 1800 available opportunities in the cooperative sector through implementation of the memorandum of understanding with the relevant bodies. He explained that the applications can be presented either online through the website of MGRP or by calling the number 103 to get in touch with the communication center of MGRP. So far more than 1,100 applications from citizens of both genders including highly qualified candidates, diploma holders and master degree holders as well as retirees, secondary level graduates, elementary level certificate holders, primary level graduates and the uneducated were received since the launch of the campaign on May 28, 2017.Meanwhile, Head of the Cooperative Societies Union Ali Al-Kandari said the idea of employing Kuwaiti citizens in cooperative societies is not new but the coming period will witness its execution in a perfect manner. He affirmed that the Kuwaiti employees of cooperative societies will be protected by the private sector labor law, supervised by Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and followed up by monitoring bodies. Al-Kandari indicated that the evaluation of Kuwaiti employees of cooperative societies will be defined by the board of directors of each cooperative society.By Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff