In an effort to draw in more talented employees from Sri Lanka, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) inaugurated the Skill Verification Programme (SVP) on Wednesday, a statement from the Saudi embassy in Colombo said.

In the first stage of the external track of the programme, which is being implemented under the Ministry's Professional Accreditation Programme, five professions, namely plumbers, electricians, refrigeration/air conditioning technicians, automobile mechanics, and automobile electricians are being considered for skill testing.
The programme has been introduced by the Ministry in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. In an effort to best regulate its labour market, it implemented SVP in July 2021.

The first phase of the SVP intends to validate workers' skills in five specializations out of the 23 selected by the Ministry, to increase the quality of the professional workforce in the Saudi labour market and raise the level of professionalism.

The goal is also to boost productivity and stop the influx of unskilled professional labour into the Kingdom's labour market.

Through two tracks—internal and international—the SVP seeks to confirm that employees in the targeted professions possess the essential skills.

The international track works with several recognized international examination centres to examine professional labour before their arrival.