Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday called upon the Bangladeshi diaspora to convey the irregularities, corruption and brutality under the BNP regimes, alongside depicting the true development picture of the current government. She made the call while exchanging views with expatriate Bangladeshis in Washington DC, PM’s Deputy Press Secretary K M Shakhawat Moon said. Sheikh Hasina also asked them to disclose the crimes committed by those who are circulating anti-state propaganda abroad. Also read: Election Commission independent, can hold fair polls: PM tells VOA The PM said, “Today Bangladesh has attained the status of a developing country. Everyone will have to work together to continue this trend of development.” She said Awami League has ensured a fair environment for elections in the country. People can now vote freely, she added. She said BNP destroyed the electoral system. “BNP enlisted fake voters and snatched the voting rights of the common people by sending goons and terrorist forces to the polling booths,” she said. Sheikh Hasina said that BNP picked 700 candidates against 300 constituencies in the last national election. So, people didn’t vote for them due to their business over giving nominations, she said. Highlighting various opportunities for investment in the country, she urged the expatriates to make investments in Bangladesh. Also read: PM in Washington: Media in Bangladesh free to criticize govt Sheikh Hasina went to the US on September 19, to attend the 77th session of United Nations General Assembly in New York. She left Dhaka for London on September 15 and attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19. The Prime Minister is expected to return home on October 4.

A Bangladeshi expatriate was killed after being hit by a private car in Ajman city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday night. The deceased was identified as Md Kamal Uddin, 38, of Mirsharai upazila of Chattogram. Khwaja Mainuddin, a neighbor of Kamal in the UAE, told his family that Kamal was hit by a speeding car while crossing the road in the city at night. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.   Kamal had been working in a laundry shop in the UAE for the last 17/18 years, he added. Read: Bangladeshi expat killed in Brunei road crash

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad on Thursday said that more than five lakh Bangladeshi expatriate workers returned to the country after losing their jobs since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. The minister said this while replying to a question from ruling Awami League MP from Faridpur Manzur Hossain. Imran said that 5.4 lakh migrant workers have got employment  abroad till May 2022 due to various diplomatic initiatives of the present government. In response to a question from AL MP  from Chattogram Didarul Alam, the minister said that a total of 10.50 lakh female migrant workers are working in 84 countries of the world according to data until May this year. The minister highlighted the various steps taken by the relevant Bangladesh missions to ensure the safety of female workers abroad. Replying to a question from AL MP from Bhola Ali Azam, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said there was no shortage of food grains in the country. READ: PM in JS: Measures taken to make next parliamentary polls more acceptable Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi in reply to a question from AL MP from Jamalpur Abul Kalam Azad, told the House that the government has identified and took actions against those responsible for trying to make people stand against the government by creating a volatile environment in the market by stockpiling soybean oil recently. The minister also said the market monitoring team led by the Ministry of Commerce and the National Consumer Rights Protection Department has already fined those responsible for creating a volatile environment in the market.  “Fines have been realized from the errant businesses through operating mobile courts run by the district and upazila administrations. In addition, regular cases are being filed against those responsible,” the commerce minister said.

The general recruiting agents in the country jointly expressed their stand against allowing “a 25-agency syndicate” for exporting manpower to Malaysia. The agents announced it at a press briefing held at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Monday. They said it was unfair, unwanted and humiliating for Bangladesh that Malaysian Minister for Human Resources Sarvnan sought a list of 25 agencies and 250 sub agents from expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry.  All recruiting agencies are of equal qualifications and they have acquired license by providing same amount of caution money so they can’t be considered sub agents of 25 chosen ones. They also questioned on what basis the 25 agencies and sub agent’s qualifications will be measured. Also read: Ensure quick services to expats, FM Momen asks DCs They said, earlier in 2016, 10 agencies were approved and 210 others as sub agents but in real none other than those 10 agencies could send workers to Malaysia. Those agencies took two to three times more plane fare from the expat workers sent from Bangladesh to Malaysia, they said. The agents expressed their concern that those 10 agencies will try to misappropriate approval for these 25 “syndicates” like before from the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Mentioning all the recruiting agents from countries like Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Pakistan can send their workers without any syndicate to Malaysia, they said Bangladesh as a sovereign country should also be allowed the same.   Also read: Malaysian govt wants to cut out third parties in foreign recruitment However the agents appreciated the letter sent by Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed to Malaysian government proposing open recruitment from all the legal agencies of Bangladesh on January 18. They demanded including the proposal at the upcoming meeting of Bangladesh-Malaysia working committee and its implementation.

Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has introduced three dedicated mobile phone numbers to make its services easily available for the expatriate community. All Bangladeshi expatriates living in Malaysia have been informed that the High Commission will take prompt action if any request/information is received through these calls. Also read: Bangladesh signs MoU with Malaysia on LNG supply The phone numbers are - 0104303110 (Passport related), 0104303020 (Passport related) and   01126206701 (Labour & Welfare related). Any expatriate Bangladeshi can call from Monday to Friday (9.00am-5.00 pm) to avail themselves of the services.

Speakers at a virtual discussion have called upon the expatriate Bangladeshi intellectuals to establish Bangabandhu internationally. They said that the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family was a very well-planned coup of the anti-independence clique. On the occasion of National Mourning Day 2021, Bangabandhu Parishad Brunei organized the virtual discussion titled "Bangladesh after 15th August" on Friday night. The meeting was chaired by local president of the organization Mostafa Reza Ali and the chief guest was the advisor of Bangladesh Awami League and General Secretary of Central Bangabandhu Parishad Dr SA Malek. Also read: South Sudan names road after Bangabandhu The keynote speaker was Bangabandhu Parishad Presidium Member and Founder Chairman of the Department of Criminology at Dhaka University, Professor Dr Zia Rahman, said a press release. Executive committee member of Bangabandhu Parishad Dr Abdullah Al Mamun, Vice President of Awami League Australia Dr Lovely Rahman, General Secretary of tAwami League of Australia Dr Abul Hasnat Milton, President of Bangabandhu Parishad of Malaysia Dr ATM Emdadul Haque, Bangladesh High Commission Brunei's counsellor Jelal Hossain, Brunei Bangabandhu Parishad Adviser Dr Nur Rahman Khokon and General Secretary of Brunei Bangabandhu Parishad Mahbubur Rahman Bakul, Rezaul Karim, Dr ABM Kamrul Hasan, Adviser of Brunei Bangabandhu Parishad, among others took part in the discussion. Also read: ‘Bangabandhu Corner’ set up at Seoul National University Library

Two chartered flights of national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines took off Monday for Hong Kong and Amman, Jordan carrying stuck students and expat workers. Bimans flight BG-078 took off from Shahjalal International Airport at 2:15 pm for Hong Kong with  students who got stuck due to Covid-19 pandemic, said Biman in a press release. Also read: Biman to start Syedpur-Cox's Bazar flight The flight reached the Hong Kong international Airport around 7:45 pm and will return with stranded Bangladeshi passengers according to the approval of both the country’s authorities. Meanwhile, another flight of Biman BG-5011 took off around 2:37 pm from the airport with stuck expat workers  headed for Jordan’s capital city Amman, said the release. According to the release it landed around 6:27 pm in Amman. Also read: Biman to run special flights to 5 countries from Apr 17 Biman has been operating emergency flight services for carrying vaccines, safety materials at reasonable price for the country and stranded Bangladeshi citizens due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Bangladesh expatriate workers travelling abroad can now register for the Covid-19 vaccine through the government's "Surokkha" app. Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed Monday inaugurated the registration at an online programme organised by the ministry and the Information and Communication Technology Division. Read Bangladesh hopeful of receiving 3.5 mln vaccine doses from COVAX this month: FM "The registration of expatriate workers for the jabs has started on a priority basis. Based on the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) database and registrations with Surokkha, the inoculation drive for them will begin with the Pfizer-BioNTech at seven centres in Dhaka for the ones going to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait," the minister said. Meanwhile, the age-based priority list has been readjusted for expatriate workers. They can now use their passports to complete the registration if they do not have national identity cards. READ: Registration for Covid-19 vaccination using ‘Surokkha’ through bKash App However, to be eligible for registration under the expatriate workers' category, the workers have to be registered with the BMET first, Imran Ahmed said. Once the registration with Surokkha is complete, the vaccination date and name of the centre will be informed through text message, he added. On Friday, the BMET launched registration for expatriate workers through the "Ami Probashi" app. READ: Buy Covid vaccines urgently with money from mega projects: BNP