Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has extended an invitation to Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tarique Rahman to visit Malaysia while the Southeast Asian country reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening cooperation across multiple sectors.

The invitation was extended when Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury called on the Malaysian Prime Minister at his office in Putrajaya on Thursday.

The Minister was accompanied by Prime Minister’s Adviser Mahdi Amin and Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia Manjurul Karim Khan Chowdhury.

On labour cooperation, the Malaysian Prime Minister said his country remains committed to safeguarding the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers in the country, particularly in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

At the same time, he underscored the need to reduce recruitment costs for foreign workers, and urged the government of Bangladesh to consider measures to lower these costs in the interest of workers’ wellbeing.

Anwar Ibrahim extended warm felicitations to his Bangladesh counterpart Tarique on his election as the Prime Minister of the Bangladesh.

He also commended the country’s long-standing struggle for democracy and its continued progress, according to Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

The Adviser conveyed warm personal greetings of Bangladesh Prime Minister to Anwar Ibrahim and handed over a letter from him.

Both sides held substantive discussions on labour relations, reaffirming their shared commitment to ensuring a transparent, clean, and efficient recruitment system to prevent exploitation of workers.

The meeting also explored avenues to enhance bilateral trade and investment, with both parties expressing interest in expanding economic engagement for mutual benefit.

In addition, opportunities for cooperation in the education sector were discussed, including the exchange of teachers and academic collaboration to further deepen people-to-people ties.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the positive trajectory of bilateral relations and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening cooperation across multiple sectors.

The two countries reaffirmed their joint commitment to strengthening strategic cooperation in labour migration, with an emphasis on a more transparent, inclusive and integrity-driven system.

Quoting Malaysian Human Resources Minister R Ramanan, who was also present at the meeting, Bernama, a Malaysian news agency, that among the key areas of discussion was ensuring a safe, orderly, and legal migration process, while also addressing current challenges in worker recruitment.

 “Among the key matters agreed upon were efforts to expedite the reopening of the labour market for Bangladeshi workers based on Malaysia’s sectoral needs, as well as ensuring a fair, ethical and transparent recruitment process. This includes reducing the role of intermediaries, lowering costs, and utilising authorised and qualified recruitment agencies,” he said.

Ramanan said Malaysia also presented initiatives to introduce a technology- and artificial intelligence-based recruitment system aimed at reducing reliance on intermediaries and ensuring recruitment costs are fully borne by employers, in line with the International Labour Organization’s 'employer pays' principle.

He said Bangladesh had expressed full support for the initiative and readiness to cooperate in its implementation.