Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Wednesday said the government is stepping up efforts to reopen closed overseas labour markets and expand employment opportunities in countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan as part of its strategy to create more jobs for Bangladeshis.
Responding to a starred question from Tangail-6 MP Md Robiul Awal during the Prime Minister’s question-answer session in Parliament, he said transforming the country's young population into a skilled workforce and increasing their participation in both local and international labour markets is one of the government's top priorities.
The Prime Minister said the government is committed to ensuring balanced development across the country by creating sustainable employment and building skilled human resources.
He said the government plans to establish Employment Exchange Centres in line with its election manifesto to provide local-level employment information, skills development and job placement services.
Tarique Rahman said the centres will help make the domestic labour market more organised and efficient while creating new employment opportunities and improving the living standards of workers across the country.
Highlighting overseas employment initiatives, he said the government has taken various steps to strengthen existing labour markets and explore new destinations.
The Prime Minister said with instability continuing in the Middle East, the government has prioritised reopening the Malaysian labour market and expanding opportunities in Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
"The final draft of a worker recruitment agreement has already been sent to the Thai government," he said.
Tarique Rahman also said Bangladeshi missions abroad have been instructed to prepare country-specific plans to increase manpower exports based on labour demand.
He added that diplomatic efforts are continuing to reopen labour markets in Malaysia, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Referring to Qatar, the Prime Minister said the 7th Bangladesh-Qatar Joint Committee meeting was held in Dhaka on May 18, where Qatar expressed interest in recruiting more skilled workers from Bangladesh in various professions.
He said the government is also planning to sign labour agreements with more Asian countries.
Tarique Rahman said diplomatic efforts are underway to establish visa centres in Dhaka for North Macedonia, Serbia, Mauritius and Portugal to facilitate the recruitment of skilled Bangladeshi workers in those countries.
He also said Bangladesh has started sending seasonal workers to South Korea through Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), while memorandums of understanding with different local governments in South Korea are being finalised to expand the programme.
To strengthen employment opportunities in Japan, the Prime Minister said a dedicated Japan Cell has been formed under the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.
The cell has brought together 96 recruitment agencies, more than 200 private Japanese language training centres and 60 Technical Training Centres (TTCs) under a coordinated framework.
Tarique Rahman said the government also plans to introduce more demand-based language courses through Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) and increase the number of training institutions.
At present, Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean language courses are being offered at 60 TTCs across the country, while recruitment of additional language instructors is underway, he added.
The parliamentary sitting began at 3:00pm with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad in the chair. During the first 30 minutes, reserved for the Prime Minister's Question Time, Tarique Rahman answered four starred questions and nine supplementary questions from lawmakers.