United News of Bangladesh

The government has adopted a plan to send 1 crore skilled workers abroad over the next five years by strengthening skills development and expanding overseas employment opportunities, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury told Parliament on Thursday. “To implement this plan, the ministry is currently providing skills development training through 110 training institutions, including 104 Technical Training Centres (TTCs) and six Institutes of Marine Technology (IMTs),” he said. Responding to a starred question from treasury bench member Md Zahidul Islam Dhalu (Naogaon-5), the minister said the institutions are offering training in 55 short- and long-term employment-oriented trades and courses to prepare workers for overseas labour markets. He said the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment has formulated an action plan in line with the government's election manifesto to develop a skilled workforce for overseas jobs, overcome language barriers and strengthen, expand and sustain Bangladesh's overseas labour markets. Replying to another starred question from treasury bench member Zainul Abedin (Barishal-3), Ariful said the government is also working to ensure safe, regular and orderly migration while reducing migration costs and curbing fraud by brokers and middlemen. To make the migration process more transparent, accountable and efficient, the government has launched the Overseas Employment Platform (OEP), a digital system that streamlines key migration services, he said. According to the minister, the platform facilitates trainee registration, monitoring and certification at training institutes, verification of demand letters and visas by labour welfare wings at Bangladesh missions abroad, issuance of emigration clearance and faster deployment of migrant workers. “The introduction of the OEP has significantly reduced the influence of brokers at different stages of the migration process and will further enhance transparency and accountability in migration management,” he said. The minister said the government has also framed the Foreign Employment and Migrants (Recruiting Agent Licence, Sub-agent Registration and Code of Conduct) Rules, 2025 to bring brokers and sub-agents under a legal framework. Besides, district and upazila migration coordination committees have been formed across the country to implement migration-related activities at the local level and strengthen oversight of overseas employment services.