Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Wednesday told Parliament that the government has specific plans to explore alternative labour markets in the context of recent instability in Iran and across the Middle East.

“Bangladesh missions abroad have been instructed to explore labour markets and assess profession-specific demand for Bangladeshi workers. In addition, local lobbyist firms are being appointed in different countries as needed based on recommendations from Bangladesh missions overseas,” he said.

The Prime Minister made the remarks while responding to a question from BNP MP Ashraf Uddin (Narsingdi-5 MP) during the question-answer session.

He said initiatives have been taken to sign bilateral agreements to expand alternative labour markets in new countries including Serbia, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, Portugal, Brazil and Russia.

The Prime Minister said initiatives have been taken to arrange high-level visits to countries beyond the Middle East that recruit workers, aiming to strengthen bilateral relations.

Mentioning that efforts are underway to reopen the Malaysian labour market, he said steps have also been taken to sign agreements with Thailand to open up employment opportunities there.

The Prime Minister also said, given the high demand for Bangladeshi workers in Japan, the scope of Japanese language and skills training has been expanded to increase manpower exports to the country.

He said Japanese language training is now being provided at 53 Technical Training Centres (TTCs), while steps have been taken to recruit instructors for Japanese, Russian, Arabic, German and Italian languages. “So far, 41 instructors in various languages have been appointed.”

Replying to another question from Faridpur-3 MP Nayab Yusuf Ahmed, Tarique said Bangladeshi missions have been asked to assess the potential for employing Bangladeshi professionals including doctors, bankers, engineers in the Middle East as professionals from different countries are leaving the region due to the war situation.

He said the loan limit for language student visas has been increased from Tk 300,000 to Tk 10,00000 without collateral.

The Prime Minister said steps have also been taken to retrain returning workers and improve their skills so they can go abroad again based on international job market needs.

He also said their previous education and work experience are being recognised and certificates are being provided.

The parliamentary session began in the morning with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed in the chair following a recess on April 10, with the Prime Minister’s question-answer session scheduled first on the day’s agenda.

Members of Parliament took part in the scheduled question-answer session at the start of the sitting.