Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad on Monday said a process continues to sign memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with several European countries including Croatia and Serbia in order to export manpower from Bangladesh. He said this while addressing a function in the conference room of his ministry here in the city, which was arranged to mark the farewell of 30 workers out of 102 intended for going to Romania through Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd (BOESL). The Minister said the Europe is a potential labuor market for Bangladesh and the rate of labour migration to Europe is constantly increasing. read more: Manpower export to Malaysia resumes after four-year gap He said the process of sending workers to Romania and other European countries will continue through BOESL. The Minister urged the workers who are willing to go abroad to enhance the reputation of the country by being responsible towards the country and paying attention to responsible behaviour and works. Read more: Recruit more manpower from Bangladesh: President to Sultan of Brunei Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Dr. Ahmed Munirus Saleheen and other high officials from the ministry, BOESL and the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board were present, said a press release.

Malaysia on Tuesday resumed recruitment of manpower from Bangladesh after a long pause of four years as the first batch of Bangladeshi workers reached Kuala Lumpur. A flight of Air Asia carrying 53 Bangladeshi workers landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 5:22am, said the High Commission of Bangladesh in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Bangladesh High Commissioner Md Golam Sarwar welcomed them at the airport and expressed satisfaction over the resumption of workers recruitment. Bangladesh expects that around five lakh workers will get employment opportunities in Malaysia within the next three years. The High Commission of Bangladesh said the remittance inflows from Malaysia will exceed USD 3 billion with the recruitment of new five lakh workers. Read: Bangladesh, Malaysia reaffirm commitment for further strengthening ties The workers were employed in a Malaysian food processing industry Jimat Jaya. According to the new salary scale of the Malaysian government, they will get a salary of at least Tk 37,000 per month. Besides, they will be provided with overtime, free accommodation, health insurance, work accident insurance and other benefits as applicable under Malaysian law. High Commissioner Golam Sarwar expressed his gratitude to all the Bangladeshi and Malaysian colleagues for the resumption of recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. Minister of Labor Wing of High Commission Najmus Sadat Salim along with officials of Human Resources Observatory of Malaysia and journalists from both countries were present at the airport. In 2018, the then Malaysian government shut the door of his country’s labour market to workers from Bangladesh for alleged irregularities by hiring agencies in both countries. At the centre of the latest dispute is that the Malaysian government wants the recruitment to be done by a selected group of 25 Bangladeshi agencies. Dhaka rejects the idea as it will leave out many mostly smaller agencies (over 1,500) out of the process and business.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said Bangladesh will send workers to Malaysia maintaining all necessary protocols, including vaccination and other formalities. She gave the assurance while visiting Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan called on her at her official residence Ganobhaban. She also expressed her deep satisfaction in holding the first meeting of the Joint Working Group between the two countries. She hoped that both sides will be able to devise ways to ensure safe, regular, inexpensive, and orderly employment of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. Also read: Malaysia will take more manpower from Bangladesh, a visiting minister tells PM She appreciated the decision of the Malaysian government to recruit Bangladeshi security personnel for non-military civilian use. Malaysian minister M Saravanan expressed his deep concern over the chance of human trafficking as the implementation of the MoU signed between the two countries gets delayed. He expressed his satisfaction over holding the ongoing Joint Working Group meeting under the auspice of the MoU on the employment of workers signed in December 2021 between the two countries. He explained the reorganization of their Human Resource Ministry from the Ministry of Home Affairs and their domestic employment process streamlining following the ILO guidelines. In this connection, he said that Malaysia has taken 5-Years Action Plan for the Migrant Workers. To this end, he mentioned they have already increased the minimum wage to RM 1500. In such a case, Bangladesh could earn US$45 billion in next 5 years with more than 500,000 expatriate workers in Malaysia, he added. The Minister also said that now they have digitized all employment processes so that every step protects the rights of the migrant workers. He said that Malaysia only takes online applications from job seekers. Also read: Bangladeshi, Malaysian recruiters demand end of syndication in manpower business In this regard, he said that they have installed e-payment directly from the employers to the workers’ salary card account without keeping recruiting agencies in the middle. The prime minister welcomed the visiting Malaysian minister to Bangladesh during the year of the Golden Jubilee of diplomatic ties between the two countries. She recalled that Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur relationship stands on a solid base since Malaysia recognized Bangladesh immediately after the independence in 1971.

The ministry of finance is expecting the growth of inward remittance by 16 per cent in the fiscal year FY2022-23. Bangladesh has, meanwhile, received inward remittance of USD $1654.94 million (1.65 billion) in 26 days of May. The ministry in a report said that over 5.5 lakh workers went abroad in the post Covid-19 period from the country. The trend of manpower export will continue as many countries of the Middle East and Europe are hiring more workers to meet the huge non-skill and semi-skilled manpower. Also read: BB moves to encourage greater flow of remittance to boost forex Besides, Qatar's football World Cup preparations have also created huge job demand in the service sector in the Middle East. Bangladesh Bank (BB) data shows that foreign exchange reserve is increasing thanks to growing inward remittance in the recent months despite huge import payment demand. If the remittances reach this trend the amount of inward remittance is likely to cross $2 billion in May, said Md Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of BB. The remittance inflow will increase in the next month ahead Eid-ul-Azha, as the expatriates are expected to send additional money on the occasion of the festival, he said. He said that remittance inflow has increased due to ease of incentive delivery process and devaluation of Bangladeshi taka. Also read: Bangladesh receives record $2.09 billion remittance in April Bangladesh has received $18, 9662.71 million or $18.97 billion since June 1 to May 26 of FY 22.

Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka has said Malaysia will continue to work closely with Bangladesh on various issues including economy, social and trade as well as matters related to the supply of manpower.

The government has taken an initiatives to send workers to six new countries as a part of efforts to export manpower to alternative labour markets.

Speakers at a webinar on Wednesday said there is no alternative to sending skilled female workers abroad to overcome the prevailing crisis in manpower export.

Dhaka, Sep 3 (UNB) – No syndicate should be formed over sending Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia, said Benjir Ahmed, president of   Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira).