KP2MI Explores Opportunities for Placing Hospitality Sector Workers in Fiji
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Protection for Indonesian Migrant Workers (KP2MI) is exploring opportunities for placing Indonesian migrant workers in the hospitality sector in the Pacific region, particularly in the Republic of Fiji.
“We see opportunities for placing professional workers in the hospitality sector as quite open,” said Deputy Minister for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (Wamen P2MI), Christina Aryani, in a KP2MI statement in Jakarta on Thursday.
Christina highlighted the potential need for professional workers in Fiji’s tourism and hospitality sector, such as chefs, hotel managers, and other skilled personnel.
According to her, the opportunities for placing professional workers in the hospitality sector are quite open.
“However, further mapping is needed regarding real needs in the field, including competency standards and the amount of wages offered,” she said after an online meeting with the Indonesian Ambassador to Fiji (also covering Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu), Dupito Dharma Simamora, on Wednesday (15/4).
In addition to conducting mapping, the Indonesian Government is also encouraging the optimisation of existing cooperation through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the Tourism Sector between Indonesia and Fiji, signed in 2023.
That cooperation, Christina continued, can be expanded through training programmes, information exchange, and on-the-job training schemes for vocational students, particularly in tourism and hospitality.
“We see opportunities to develop training and internship cooperation for vocational high school (SMK) and tourism polytechnic students, so that they gain international work experience before entering the global job market,” she explained.
On the other hand, Christina also highlighted the importance of strengthening protection for Indonesian fishing vessel crew (ABK) in the Pacific region, given that Fiji is one of the stopover points for international fishing vessels.
“We are encouraging stronger cooperation, including the possibility of an MoU on ABK Protection, considering there is still potential vulnerability for workers due to non-transparent recruitment processes,” Christina added.
She hopes that the cooperation opportunities with Fiji will become an initial model that can later be replicated in other Pacific countries.
“We hope this exploration can result in concrete steps, both in opening access to work for professional migrant workers and strengthening protection for Indonesian migrant workers in the region,” said Christina Aryani.