Over eight lakh workers went abroad with job last year, says ministry
January 29, 2008
A total of 8,32,609 Bangladeshi workers were given immigration clearance to go abroad with employment till December 31, 2007 since the present Caretaker government came to power.
Of which, more than five lakh 71 thousand workers were sent to different countries including Malaysia with employment, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment ministry sources told the news agency yesterday.
Bangladeshis working abroad, a key source of economic stability, sent home a record of $6.57 billion in 2007 equivalent to Tk 45,683 crore. The record remittances also pushed up Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve, the sources said.
The countries, where Bangladeshi workforce went include Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Libya, Kuwait, Singapore, Brunei, Jordan, UK, Italy, Mauritius, Lebanon and Ireland.
The sources said that with the timely action taken by the government new labour markets have been created in countries like South Korea, Poland, Canada, Rumania, Russia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. New labour market is likely to be opened up in Cyprus. Expatriate Ministry sources further said that after a gap of 10 years, Malaysia started importing manpower from Bangladesh from October 22, 2006. And so far two lakh 45 thousand 16 workers went to Malaysia till December 31, 2007.
On average four hundred to seven hundred Bangladeshi workers have been going to Malaysia everyday although Malaysia had put a temporary ban on import of manpower.
The present government signed memorandum of understanding with some countries for export of manpower from the country.
The countries include, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Qatar. Dhaka and Seoul signed an agreement on the commencement of recruiting Bangladeshi manpower in South Korea under the country’s new Employment Permit System (EPS) for foreign job seekers.
The deal styled ‘Service Commitment Agreement was signed between Human Resources Department (HRD) of Korea and Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd (BOESL). However Korean language skill is a must for getting job there. The government of Oman lifted a bar on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers after 12 years and expressed desire to recruit skilled workforce from the country.
The Omani minister for manpower Dr. Juma bin Ali bin Juma during his visit to Dhaka recently had announced the lifting of bar. Presently some 130,000 Bangladeshis are employed in the tiny oil rich Gulf State. Oman requires skilled manpower like doctors, engineers, technicians and other professionals.
The sources said that Bangladesh and Qatar on January 6 this year signed an additional protocol to recruit more workers especially skilled workforce from the country for the Gulf State.
Qatar is interested in recruiting skilled professionals like academics, engineers and IT experts apart from semi-and unskilled workers. More than 15,000 workers went to Qatar in 2007.
The government has provided Tk 11. 25 crore from the wage earners welfare fund to the dependents of 1,125 deceased workers and 45 injured workers during January, 07 to November 07. There are 764 recruiting agencies in the country. The government received 256 complaints against different recruiting agencies from January ‘07 to November ‘07. Some 142 complaints were resolved while Taka one crore 56 lakh were realised from the accused agencies and given to the Complainants.
During the same period license of four recruiting agencies were cancelled for different irregularities.
Replying to question to a question on the problems faced by the Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, expatriate welfare and overseas employment secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury said that problem arises when the workers find their job tough for them and want to be employed elsewhere. “This problem can not be solved quickly,” he added.
Chowdhury said the officials of the Labour wing of the Bangladesh missions abroad have been advised to visit the working sites and camps on regular basis to sort out the problems of Bangladeshi workers with the employers.
Bangladesh to sign deal with South Korea for manpower export
January 29, 2008
Bangladesh will sign a deal with South Korea on recruitment of workforce under a new arrangement styled Employment Permit System (EPS), private news agency UNB reported Saturday.
A regular meeting of the council of advisers chaired by Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed on Saturday approved a proposal on manpower export to South Korea at government level through the EPS, introduced by the Far Eastern country this year.
Earlier, they used to recruit manpower on the basis of Industrial Training System (ITS), which has been revoked recently.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is expected to be signed during Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury’s Seoul visit on June 4-6.
The MOU would protect the interest and rights of Bangladeshi workforce in South Korea, where now around 12,000 Bangladeshis work and the new deal could take in some 10,000 more, the report said.
Under the EPS, South Korea will recruit a total of some 50,000 skilled manpower from 14 countries, including Bangladesh.
The estimated 10,000 skilled workers of Bangladesh would be drawn from four categories — construction, manufacture, services, and agriculture, fisheries and livestock.
7-point strategy to tap new manpower export market
January 29, 2008
The caretaker government announced a seven-point strategy to ensure the well-being of the Bangladeshi workers abroad and expand the manpower-export market worldwide by removing the prevailing hurdles, reports UNB.
Foreign and Overseas Employment Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Wednesday announced the strategy, which includes exploring new manpower-export markets in the Scandinavian, European and East European countries like Norway, Sweden and Romania.
The strategy includes extension of the existing markets in the Middle-East, including Libya, enhancing skills in the English language, exporting manpower from Monga-affected areas, ensuring proper utilisation of remittances, ensuring strong monitoring to check fraud in manpower export, and working together with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Migration Organisation (IMO).
Speaking at a press briefing at the Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, the adviser said the government has adopted the strategy as it believes that the country’s prime foreign currency earnings would come from the manpower-export sector.
During the briefing, Overseas Employment secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury noted that until September last, a total of 8,830 Bangladeshi citizens were in prisons in different countries across the world, either in police custody or under remand. Of them, 1,930 were convicted.
Of the convicts, the highest 636 Bangladeshi nationals are in Saudi jails.
Iftekhar Chowdhury said the Malaysian government is yet to convey any decision about suspending recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. “But, despite that, everyday, on an average, about 700 workers are leaving for Malaysia and the government is working on the issue so that the market could be resumed,” he said.
The caretaker government would deal with the manpower-export business in the new manpower markets taking lesson from Malaysian incidents, he informed. He also said a South Korean delegation is arriving in Dhaka on December 9 to discuss manpower import from Bangladesh.
He noted that an agreement would be signed between the Korean HRD and Bangladesh’s state-owned recruiting agency Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Service Limited (BOESL).
“Korea will recruit about 3,000 workers. Those who are now in Korea will get priority in recruitment as they have command on Korean language,” he added.
The diplomat-turned Adviser said a total of 526,171 Bangladeshi workers have gone abroad for jobs since the present caretaker government assumed office in January 2007.
He informed that a total of 764,903 workers were issued outgoing permits in last 11 months, of which 2,38,000 were waiting to fly. “This figure is the highest in any time in the history.”
The country received US$ 5.78 billion (Tk 40,323 crore) in remittance until November 22. “If the trend continues, the remittance flow will exceed US$ 6 billion,” the Adviser said.
BSS adds: Iftekhar also said the government will also introduce a strict system to monitor manpower recruiting agencies so that none of them could cheat people seeking employment abroad. The government already took action against Kabir Enterprise, for wrongdoings, but its licence was yet to be cancelled, he informed adding that for their misconduct punitive action was also taken against some officials at the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia.
The government, if required, would bring back the 49 Bangladeshis agitating in front of Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur as they did not get the jobs they were promised, he said replying to a question. The government was aware, he said, replying to a question, that some people were acting against Bangladesh’s interest in Malaysia.
Action would be taken against such elements in due course, he mentioned. The question of withdrawal of Malaysian ban on Bangladeshi manpower was being discussed by the two governments, he told a questioner.
Bangladeshi workers to join jobs in Feb: Korean envoy
January 29, 2008
Korean language tests essential for recruitement :
The South Korean ambassador in Dhaka, Suk-Bum Park, on Sunday observed that recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in his country depends on how authorities of Dhaka do the preparatory work.
?As we do not have any pre-determined quota for recruiting Bangladeshi nationals under the Employment Permit System, the number of workers we will take depends on how the BOESL deals with this,? he said after the signing ceremony at the lone public recruiting agency?s office.
In March South Korea officially announced that it would recruit 10,000 overseas workers from four countries ? Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan ? in the 2007-2008 period under the Employment Permit System.
A deal styled ?Service Commitment Agreement? was signed between the two countries for recruitment of Bangladeshi workers under Korea?s EPS for foreigners.
Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd, and Kim Yong Dal, president of the Human Resources Development under the Korean labour ministry, signed the agreement on behalf of their governments.
When he was asked when the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers would begin, the top Korean envoy said that it was too early to answer that question, but he hinted that the first batch of Bangladeshi workers would join their jobs in Korea by February.
Abdul Matin Chowdhury, expatriates? welfare and overseas employment secretary who was also present at the signing ceremony, said that the names of aspirant Bangladeshi workers who had passed the Korean language test would be sent to the HRD in Korea. Then the list of Bangladeshi nationals will be submitted to the Korean employers.
?The final selection depends on the Korean employers, said the secretary.