Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Friday afternoon to discuss ways to take the relations between the two countries to a new height by exploring new areas of cooperation and strengthening the ties in diverse areas. He will be visiting Dhaka at the invitation of Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus. The Malaysian Prime Minister is likely to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 2:30 pm or after that; and he will directly go to a hotel where he will be staying for around four hours, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB. Chief Adviser Prof Yunus will receive the Malaysian Prime Minister amid gun salute and guard of honour.  After almost a decade, a Malaysian Prime Minister will visit Bangladesh, and this official visit is the first by any head of government to Bangladesh since the formation of the interim government on August 8. The bilateral meeting between the Malaysian Prime Minister and Chief Adviser Prof Yunus will be held at the same hotel, which will be followed by a joint press statement. During the meeting, related areas of mutual interest including economic, political, trade and investment, education, technology and human resource development, manpower export, higher education cooperation, communications, infrastructure development, and defense cooperation are expected to be highlighted, said Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain. The two leaders will also have a one-to-one meeting before the bilateral talks.  Prof Yunus will also host high tea in honour of the Malaysian Prime Minister.  The Malaysian Prime Minister will also meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban. He will sign visitor's book there. Malaysia is going to be the next chair of ASEAN from January 2025, and the Rohingya issue will also be discussed. In addition, the issue of Bangladesh to become a "Sectoral Dialogue Partner" in ASEAN in terms of regional cooperation will also be specially raised. "As a result, this visit is very important in terms of bilateral relations," said the Foreign Affairs Adviser, adding that once the Prime Minister of Malaysia arrives in Dhaka, he will be accorded a warm welcome as per state protocol.  This visit is expected to be considered as an expression of deepening bilateral relations and enduring friendship between Bangladesh and Malaysia, said the Adviser ahead of the visit. A 58-member delegation will accompany the Malaysian Prime Minister that will include the country's Foreign Minister, Trade and Investment Minister, Deputy Minister of Transport, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs, two Members of Parliament and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In August this year, Prof Yunus invited him to undertake a short visit to Bangladesh as soon as possible to further strengthen the brotherly relationship between the two countries. Malaysia is the 8th largest investor in Bangladesh. In August, the Malaysian leader made a phone call to his old friend, Prof Muhammad Yunus, to congratulate him personally on his recent appointment as the chief adviser of the Interim government of Bangladesh. Prof Yunus has long-standing good ties with Malaysia. "Thus, I assured him that Malaysia stands ready to help and support the interim Government in rebuilding and restoring peace and security in Bangladesh," said the Malaysian PM. At least seven Malaysian universities have Yunus Centres, promoting social business ideas he champions and his three-zero concepts. Malaysian companies, including several owned by its sovereign funds, have invested more than $5 billion in Bangladesh and are now willing to invest more, including in education. A second Malaysian car manufacturer has signed an agreement with a Chattogram-based company for distributing and assembling cars. Malaysia says they could be a desired destination for medical tourism, saying the Bangladeshi people can avail essential medical treatment in the country at an affordable price. The Malaysian Prime Minister is scheduled to leave Dhaka at 6:25pm.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed said on Friday (January 06, 2023) that the government of Bangladesh is planning to send 15 lakh Bangladeshi workers abroad this year. “The labour market here is growing.  A large labour market is emerging in China. Besides, workers are now going to Romania, Greece, Italy and we are also planning to send workers to Libya,” Imran said. He urged the would-be expatriates to improve their skills and follow the proper procedures for going abroad. Read: Investors’ financial literacy must to boost capital market: Commerce Minister He made the remarks while speaking at the Sylhet, Chittagong, and Comilla divisional organizational conference of the Diploma Engineers Association in Sylhet. MD. Ujjal Bakht,  Vice President (Sylhet) of Education Engineering Department Diploma Engineers’ Association (EEDDEA),  Saroj Kumar Nath, Joint Secretary (Development II) of Secondary and Higher Education Department, and  Delwar Hossain Majumdar, chief engineer of Education Engineering Department, were among others in the conference. Read More: Govt to honour expats through National Expatriate Day: Momen

President Abdul Hamid on Sunday asked the authorities concerned to plan academic curriculum in line with the labour market. "We need to plan academic curriculum in line with the labour market. It is often seen that students cannot study as per their interests and preferences," he said at a discussion organised on the ocassion of the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibir Rahman. The Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh ( APUB) organised the programme at a hotel in the city. He said that Bangladesh has already evolved from a least developed to a developing country and the government has set a target to become a developed country by 2041. Also read: Work impartially with courage, President urges EC "In order to achieve this goal, we have to make our young generation educated and skilled," he said . "Skilled manpower needs to be created in education, health, agriculture, economy, trade and commerce, engineering, and information technology," he said. He called for ensuring that the university education does not become certificate-based in any way. The president suggested private universities keep some seat tuition fee-free for poor and meritorious students. Urging university teachers to come forward in research work, he said that researchers need to have enough interest and enthusiasm to know what is being done in other countries about their teaching. Also read: President calls for more US investment in Bangladesh Education Minister Dipu Moni, Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel spoke in the programme while APUB's chairman Kabir Hossain presided over it.

Ann Linde, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, has stressed the importance of connecting gender equality to sustainable development and economic growth. “We cannot disregard half of the world’s population. We say that the Swedish Government is the world’s first feminist government, and as Foreign Minister I lead a feminist foreign policy," she said while addressing a discussion.  The Swedish Embassy in Dhaka, the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Global Deal, in the context of the Team Europe Initiative ‘Decent Work’, jointly organized the panel discussion on Monday titled “Social Dialogue as an Enabling Mechanism for Gender Equality on the Labour Market – Experiences from the RMG-sector in Bangladesh”.  The Swedish Minister said a natural part of this policy is to work for gender equality, including in the labour market. In today’s globalized economy, globalization must work for all.  "Strengthening gender equality on the labour market is not only the right thing to do, it is also the economically smart thing to do in any society." The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden also stated that both Sweden and Bangladesh had been partners from the start of the launching of the Global Deal Initiative, adding that she looked forward to continuing to work together on these important questions.  Md. Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Foreign Affairs, also spoke. The panel discussion was moderated by Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director, ILO Country Office for Bangladesh.  READ: Teen takes over Swedish Embassy in Bangladesh for a day The panel gathered a broad range of relevant stakeholders sharing their experiences and consisted of Veronica Nilsson, Global Deal, Head of Unit in the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELS), OECD; Begum Shamsunanhar Bhuiyan MP, National Trade Union Representative, Member of the Parliament and Member to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Labour and Employment; China Rahman, General Secretary at Federation of Garment Workers’, Women’s Affair Secretary at IndustriALL Bangladesh Council (IBC); Dr. Rubana Huq, former President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA); Ziaur Rahman, Regional Country Manager at H&M and Shirin Akhter MP, President of the National Workers Alliance, Member of Parliament and Founder President of Karmojibi Nari (KN).  During the seminar, the EU delegation gave a presentation of some of the early findings of their study “Mapping Trade Unions in Bangladesh: Current Dynamics and Challenges”.  The seminar, which was arranged as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, aimed at discussing how women’s active participation in the labour market can be strengthened including through exploring how Social Dialogue can contribute as a mechanism to this end.

An anger is growing among poor hosts as the Rohingyas, living in Bangladesh’s tourism hub of Cox’s Bazar, are increasingly joining the local labour market, leaving many locals out of their jobs and small businesses. The host communities claimed that Rohingyas can easily come out from their camps and get engaged in work at the local labour market with their increased presence. “You need to pay a local labourer Tk 600 a day and you can do the same job engaging a Rohingya with only Tk 200-300. Naturally, the Rohingyas get a preference when someone hires a day-labourer,” one of the locals told UNB, wishing not to be named. Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar district and Bhasan Char. The UN is likely to begin its operational activities in Bhasan Char in September if the current negotiation ends with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in August.    Palangkhali UP chairman in Ukhiya upazila M Gafur Uddin Chowdhury said locals are no longer getting desired jobs as Rohingyas are preferred for lower wages. “Even, no one is stopping it… even the Rohingyas are getting involved in small businesses.” Hamidul Haque Chowdhury who works to protect the interests of locals said the Rohingyas are even working in various NGOs. Read: Floods, landslides hit Rohingya camps hard: UNHCR “They also work in various shops and doing household works. I myself saw them doing all this,” he told UNB, adding that Rohingya workers and employees are outnumbering the locals. Mohammad Shamsu Douza, Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, said they have no such information that the Rohingyas are working in various NGOs.

Trade union policy strategy should give attention to both organised and unorganised workers amid the pandemic. Different worker groups, including regular, temporary, and casual workers and small-scale employers – particularly those self-employed and involved in micro, small and medium enterprises; retailing, construction, road, commerce, tourism, and other informal sectors – are still reeling from the Covid-19 shock. So, effective social dialogues will be the key to the sustainable recovery of the labour market. Also read: Uncertain, uneven recovery likely amid unprecedented labour market crisis: ILO The observations emerged from the virtual dialogue on "Recovery of the Labour Market during Covid-19: Role of Trade Union" jointly organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) on Saturday. Speaking at the dialogue, Shirin Akhter, member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and also vice-chairman of BILS, called for increasing the number of enlisted organised workers. "There are many workers in the formal and informal sector in the country. But we do not have a proper list of them yet. We can grasp the overall situation of employers and workers through social dialogues," she said. Also read: Women need targeted support to tackle COVID-19 impact: CPD Dialogue Syed Manzur Elahi, former advisor to the Caretaker Government and chairman of Apex Group, said: "There is a communication gap. So, tripartite coordination has to be ensured among the government, factory owners and workers." Labour Secretary KM Abdus Salam said, "All stakeholders are heard with equal importance and monitoring is taking place regularly through a central monitoring committee."

Tentative signs of recovery are emerging in global labour markets, following unprecedented disruption in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, says the latest report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Monday.

Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Saturday said that the government will be appointing a child psychologist in each upazila.

The government considers enhancing the skills of the country’s capable population and their productivity to fulfill the demand of the labour markets, both at home and abroad, aiming to face the adverse impact of COVID-19 that devastated the national economy.

Qatar has reopened its labour market for Bangladeshi workers after a closure for several months.