The visiting Saudi Minister of Labour Abdel bin Mohammad Fakeih will be signing an agreement with the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi on Labour Cooperation for Domestic Service Workers Recruitment here on Thursday.

Such an agreement has become necessary as Saudi Arabia has come out with the new law, Nitaqat, to augment opportunities for locals for employment and to restrict the 'illegal' flow of migrant workers from foreign countries.

At present there are about 2.8 million Indian residents in Saudi Arabia. From the beginning of 2013 when the Nitaqat law was implemented about 130,000 Indian workers returned to India. But a good number of Indian workers went to Saudi Arabia and as such the Arab Kingdom now hosts about 2.8 million Indians. Approximately 25 to 30% of Indian residents would be covered under 'domestic workers' as per Saudi law.

Over the past two decades, number of Indians in Saudi Arabia has grown from 450,000 to 2.8 million.

With such a presence of Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia, India is likely to work out a standard work contract with the Arab Kingdom which will stipulate requirements to be adhered to at the time of selection and emigration of Indian workers, their pay scales and other requirements.