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Gulf state targets foreign workers
The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed al-Nahyan, says replacing foreign workers with local Arab nationals is now a top priority.
In a speech marking independence day 28th anniversary he said it was time to redress the imbalance.
He said the key to providing more jobs for the growing number of school leavers was better education.
The BBC Gulf correspondent says about ten million guest workers, mainly from South Asia, work in the Gulf states - outnumbering local Emiraties by nearly four to one and making up nearly ninety per cent of the workforce. In another development, the president's wife,Sheikha Fatima, is reported as saying women should be allowed to take up ministerial posts in the UAE's cabinet.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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