UAE announces employment reforms

The United Arab Emirates has announced further moves to reduce unemployment and its dependence on foreign workers.

In future, all secretaries and personnel managers must be Emirates citizens, the government says.

Expatriates in such jobs will lose them as contracts and work permits expire. The authorities already have quotas for foreigners in some business sectors.

Observers say there is concern in the UAE at its heavy reliance on expatriate workers, mostly from South Asia.