Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury on Tuesday told Parliament that the government has introduced a one-line based ‘overseas employment platform’ (OEP) to curb frauds of middlemen, reduce migration cost and safe migration of overseas jobseekers.
"To ensure safe and disciplined migration of outbound workers and to control migration costs and fraud by brokers, migration management is being controlled through the online-based OEP platform (Overseas Employment Platform)," he said.
The Minister said this while replying to a starred question from opposition (Jamaat-e-Islami) lawmaker Hafez Muha: Rabiul Bashar (Satkhira-3) in the House.
Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram tabled the question-and-answer session immediately after the day’s sitting started around 3pm.
Ariful Haque said the digital platform, OEP, has been introduced to ease the migration process of overseas jobseekers and make it accountable, including to expedite the migration process of overseas jobseekers, reduce the influence of middlemen, facilitate the verification of demand letters and visas through labour welfare wings abroad and issue migration clearances.
“As a result, the influence of brokers in various stages of migration has been reduced and transparency and accountability in the migration management have been ensured,” he said.
To develop a skilled workforce, he said the government is providing training through 110 training institutions – 106 technical training centres and six institutes of marine technology under the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).
A total of 55 short and long-term market-oriented courses are currently being offered, enabling trainees to secure jobs both at home and abroad, said the minister.
He highlighted different steps taken by the ministry to strengthen, expand and diversify labour markets.
“Due to the instability in the Middle East, initiatives have already been taken to expand markets in Thailand, South Korea, and Japan, including the reopening of the Malaysian labour market,” he said.
The final draft agreement on worker recruitment has already been sent to the Thai government, while Bangladeshi missions abroad have been instructed to prepare specific action plans based on labour demand in their respective countries, said Ariful Haque.
He said diplomatic efforts are continuing to revive or expand labour markets in Malaysia, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
The minister also said Bangladesh and Qatar held their seventh Joint Committee meeting in Dhaka on May 18, 2026, where Qatar expressed interest in recruiting more skilled Bangladeshi workers in different professions.
He said plans are underway to sign additional agreements with other Asian countries.
Efforts are also being made to establish visa centres in Dhaka for some European countries such as North Macedonia, Serbia, Mauritius and Portugal to facilitate the migration process of skilled workers to the countries, he added.
The Minister said the process to sign Memoranda of Understanding continue with local governments in South Korea to send seasonal workers. Sending seasonal workers to South Korea has already started through BOESL.
To boost employment in Japan, a dedicated Japan Cell has been formed at his ministry, bringing together 96 sending organisations, over 200 private Japanese language institutes and 60 TTCs under a unified framework, he said.
Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean language courses are currently being conducted at 60 TTCs, while efforts are underway to recruit more language teachers in the TTCs, he added.
Some 15 million Bangladeshis went abroad for jobs in 22 years: Ariful
In reply to a question from another treasury bench lawmaker AKM Fazlul Haque Milon (Gazipur-5), the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister said some 15 million Bangladeshi workers went to different countries for overseas jobs in the last 22 years.
“According to the BMET database, 15,007,129 Bangladeshis workers went abroad for employment between 2004 and June 16, 2026,” he said.
However, the minister said it is not possible to determine the exact number of Bangladeshis currently working overseas because many have already returned home and there is no comprehensive database of returnee workers.
He said BMET has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Special Branch (SB) of Bangladesh Police to exchange information on returning migrant workers.
He said the Middle East remains Bangladesh's principal labour market, with most expatriate workers employed in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
“However, sending manpower has declined somewhat due to ongoing instability across the Middle East, particularly in Iran, Lebanon and Syria,” he said.
In such a context, the ministry has undertaken a series of measures to consolidate existing labour markets, expand overseas employment opportunities and explore alternative destinations for Bangladeshi workers.