Arafat Ara
The government has planned to send workers to the Middle East (ME) countries at a migration cost of only Tk 20,000 each under the state arrangement, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, said.
“Already Bahrain and Qatar have agreed to recruit Bangladeshis through Government to Government (G to G) dealings and now we are discussing the issue with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA),” said the minister.
We will establish the G to G process in sending workers to the ME countries like that of Malaysia aiming to reduce visa trading, he said. “If we can stop visa trading the migration cost will not exceed the amount mentioned above”
Now the people are forced to pay up to Tk 0.8 million each for securing jobs in the ME countries as they have to give visa fee to the private agencies.
Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) and Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) will send manpower to the importing countries, Mr Hossain mentioned.
The employing countries will select manpower directly from the database of registered job seekers which has been made for Malaysia, said the minister.
Some 14, 42,776 people were enlisted during the nine-day online registration programme across the country, according to the ministry.
Through registration we got 0.6 million skilled candidates of various sectors who may be eligible for the ME nations, the minister said adding that if the requirements are not fulfilled then we will organise fresh registration programme to this effect.
He, however, said after streamlining the migration process properly we will allow the private recruitment agencies so that the dishonest manpower recruiters cannot exploit the people.
According the ministry officials, a high powered delegation of the KSA will arrive in Dhaka Saturday to examine the G to G migration process of Bangladesh.
The MEWOE Secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan said during a five- day tour, the delegation will see the activities of BMET, BOESL, District Employment and Manpower (DEMO) offices, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, police verification system, and other related issues.
Now 80 per cent of Bangladeshi migrants are in the Muslim countries who were mainly sent by the private manpower agencies.
Source: Financial Express
