DUSHANBE, April 28, 2009, Asia-Plus – Tajik labor migration service officials in northern Sughd province say they are still waiting to implement a December agreement with Saudi Arabia about the recruitment of 2,000 Tajik workers, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reported on March 26.

This report comes a few days after Saad al-Baddah, the chairman of Saudi Arabia''s National Committee for Recruitment, declared that the agreement on Tajik workers will soon be approved in Riyadh.

Tajik officials say the workforce will consist mainly of women above the age of 45 who would be employed as domestic workers and men who would work as drivers.

The leader of the Islamic Council of Sughd Province, Huseyn Musozoda, said women can migrate only if they are accompanied by their husbands.

A Tajik journalist in Khujand, Jura Yusufi, told RFE/RL that work opportunities in Saudi Arabia might help Tajik seasonal workers who lost their jobs in Russia due to the global economic crisis.