DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) president has announced plans to gradually replace Asian workers with nationals to redress the huge demographic imbalance in his booming country. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nayhan told London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat he was aware of "the seriousness of the imbalance" in the Gulf state where foreigners make up about 80% of the 4mn population. The solution was a "progressive" nationalisation of the workforce with local, qualified workers taking over from non-Emiratis, he said.

The president called for the economy to be restructured in a way that would cut down on "the mass of unqualified foreign workers who account for the biggest factor in the demographic imbalance".Foreign labourers, mostly from the subcontinent, have been powering the UAE’s construction boom but their working conditions have been a regular target of criticism by rights groups.
Sheikh Khalifa, however, said they "cannot be classified as immigrant workers as they work here on a provisional basis under fixed term contracts.

"As a result, the standing laws on immigration in Western countries cannot apply fully to these workers," he said.The president denied his country was coming under US pressure on the labour and political fronts in negotiations to seal a lucrative free trade agreement with Washington."Our negotiators have clear instructions: no laxity or negligence, under any circumstances, when it concerns the sovereignty of our country or the independence of our will," said Sheikh Khalifa.

Earlier this month, the UAE prime minister, Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also ruler of Dubai, ordered sweeping measures to protect foreign labourers. He ordered the labour ministry to "take all necessary steps to organise the affairs of foreign workers... and to assure them all the conditions of health, security and a dignified life, both in their places of reference and at work". Sheikh Mohamed also decreed the setting up of a special court to resolve labour disputes. – AFP