Ethiopia opened overseas employment to Qatar effective July 5, 2019, concluding a bilateral labour agreement with the destination country. The first batch of domestic workers have arrived in Doha, where they were welcomed by Samia Zekaria, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Qatar. The employees were taken by an employment agency, Al Taquet Trading & Manpower Services, and through its Ethiopian counterpart, ECO Manpower. A total of 30 employment agencies were licensed to facilitate deployment of workers from Ethiopia to Qatar. The deployment of domestic workers to Middle Eastern countries was reopened after a six-year ban.