Bangladesh offers to provide more manpower to Saudi Arabia
July 4, 2008
President Prof Iajuddin Ahmed Thursday said Bangladesh was ready to provide more skilled and unskilled manpower to Saudi Arabia for fulfilling the demand of the labour market of the oil-rich country, reports UNB.
He also said Saudi Arabia could import pharmaceutical products and medicines and explore the possibility of joint-venture investment in boosting Bangladesh’s readymade garment sector that would also benefit the Saudi investors. Read more
Prioritise broader goals of women development
June 14, 2008
Shunning the focus on merely addressing the current needs, the government should look to long-term goals emphasising gender issues while presenting a budget, speakers at a press conference yesterday said.
They said the prioritisation process should aim at achieving the broader goals of women-development issues instead of the three-year ‘mid-term budgetary framework’.
Unnayan Samannaya, Steps Towards Development, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha, ActionAid Bangladesh, Unifem Bangladesh and CIDA jointly organised the press conference on ‘National Budget 2008-09: Gender Analysis’, at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium in the city.
The speakers said transparency is needed in the gender statement of the proposed budget in order to ensure the utilisation of the funds allocated for women development.
Presenting the keynote paper, economist Dr Atiur Rahman said direct expenditure for women as proposed in the budget should be specific as it is not clear what amount will be spent on which sector meant for them.
He said though the budget proposes Tk 26,272 crore, or 26 percent of the budget, for ‘gender expenditure’, it does not draw the line between direct and indirect expenditures.
The remaining 74 percent of the budget is gender-blind, he said, adding that empowerment of women should be focused in order to prepare a women-friendly budget.
Dr Atiur, also chairman of the Unnayan Samannaya, lauded including women in the safety-net programmes but said the government should take measures to ensure that money earmarked for such programmes reach monga-stricken, haor and char areas where women are most vulnerable.
He placed stress on the effective implementation of the special social-protection programmes in the proposed budget.
Dr Atiur proposed introducing rationing system for female garment workers in order to ensure their food security.
“Quality of garment products will be compromised if female workers in the sector are not provided with proper food,” he said.
Stating that the ratio of men to women in tertiary education is 66:34, Dr Atiur called on the government to focus on increasing enrolment of women in tertiary and vocational education.
He urged the government to review VAT on health items and services meant exclusively for women through the ‘gender lens’.
Ranjan Karmakar, executive director of Steps Towards Development, Rokeya Kabir, executive director for Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha, Nahid Ahmed, national programme manager of Unifem Bangladesh, Nigar Sultana with ActionAid Bangladesh and Humayera Haq of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad were present at the press conference.
Saudi Arabia Suggests Bangladesh Workers Know Saudi Culture
April 21, 2008
DHAKA, April 9 Asia Pulse - Saudi Deputy Minister for Labour Ahmed Abdulraham Al Mansour Tuesday urged the authorities in Bangladesh to send workers with adequate knowledge about Saudi culture, lack of which often embarrasses both the sides.
He also called for sending skilled workers in keeping with the changed labour market that prefers skilled hands, holding out offer of assistance for skill training.
“We can assist Bangladesh in developing skilled manpower, if necessary,” he told reporters after the Saudi-Bangladesh Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting in the NEC conference room.
Ahmed led the Saudi delegation while ERD secretary Aminul Islam Bhuiyan headed the host team to the two-day 9th JEC meeting that concluded Tuesday.
Welcoming skilled workers from Bangladesh, the Saudi Junior Minister said workers need to know the Saudi culture, social norms and values as well as the labour laws.
Lack of knowledge about the rules and regulation creates problem, he said, adding that outbound workers should also ensure that they have legally proper appointment letter and they should know their job in Saudi Arabia.
He noted that the Saudi labour market has changed a lot by now and authorities now prefer importing skilled workers.
Replying to a question, he said he would not bring sweeping charges against all the recruiting agencies that recruit workers to Saudi Arabia and allegedly cheat workers from Bangladesh.
He, however, suggested ensuring transparency of the local recruiting agencies.
The ERD secretary, Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, said the JEC had a fruitful meeting on bilateral issues, including manpower export, trade and commerce, economic cooperation and tourism. Labour issues dominated the talk.
During the meeting, the Saudi delegation members said that the Saudi government was examining the number of workers from different countries as against their respective quotas.
They also made it clear that it was not an isolated measure against Bangladesh.
The team further assured that the recent unrest by the Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia would not be a threat for sending Bangladesh workers to his country.
Saudis ban Bangladeshi workers in two sectors
April 4, 2008
Riyadh: Saudi Labour Minister Dr Gazi Al Gosaibi has clarified that the decision to stop hiring of Bangladeshi workers was in the housing and agricultural sectors.
“This decision was taken in view of the fact that the quota fixed for Bangladeshi workers in the kingdom was over,” Gosaibi said.
“Their hiring would be restricted to medical and engineering fields. However, there will be an exception for the jobs in the maintenance and cleaning sectors with the condition that their percentage in all the sectors should not exceed 20 per cent,” he told reporters here on Sunday. Read more
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.
Manpower export to KL faces trouble again
December 2, 2007
The manpower export to Malaysia seems to be in trouble again following some allegations against Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) both at home and in the Southeast Asian country.
Operation of Baira office in Kuala Lumpur was suspended on orders from the Malaysian home ministry after a number of employers had accused Baira President MAH Salim of trying to influence them to issue more job orders in favour of his agency.
Meanwhile, some recruiting agencies here in Dhaka have complained to the government that Baira charges an additional Tk 30,000 per worker without giving any receipt, sources at Baira said.
As a result, manpower export to the country has yet to begin though it was scheduled to start by early August.
MAH Salim MP is currently in Malaysia and could not be contacted for comments.
However, at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity late August, he denied the allegation that he had been charging more than the agreed amount for sending workers to the fast-developing country. Besides, he assured that the agencies will charge no more than Tk 84,000.
According to an agreement between Bangladesh and Malaysia, agencies will charge Tk 84,000 for each worker going to the latter, but the cost now is over Tk 1.5 lakh with additional 1,800 ringgits.
After the Malaysian government had lifted its embargo on worker export from Bangladesh, which was in force for about a decade, the association of the recruiting agencies was delegated to send manpower to that country.
But since then, allegations were rife against the Baira president and some ministers including State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Lutfur Rahman Khan Azad of asking for part of the money realised from the workers illegally.
The state minister however dismissed the allegations and said his ministry will strictly monitor the process so that no agency can overcharge the workers.
Meanwhile, more than 10 thousand job offer letters have reached Baira, but none of the workers could be sent due to the dispute over migration cost.
A few lakh workers from across the country, on the other hand, have already submitted their passports to the recruiting agencies. And for this, the middlemen had charged them a pretty large sum.
“It may push the migration cost to Tk 2 lakh, whereas a worker should not need more than Tk 50,000 for going to Malaysia,” said a recruitment agent requesting anonymity.
The manpower export to Malaysia might halt anytime if the dispute is not resolved immediately, he said adding, “Especially those who had already paid a substantial amount of money to the middlemen or the agencies will be in great trouble.”
Sources in the expatriates’ welfare ministry said the Malaysian government too has expressed disgust over the reports that the Baira was having extra money from the workers saying that they need that for the lobbyists working in Malaysia.
Under these circumstances, the government should oversee the manpower export instead of Baira, suggested a recruiting agent preferring anonymity.
It was for the first time that Malaysia had signed an agreement with a trade body like Baira for manpower. According to the agreement, an online system is to be employed to avert any forgery and irregularities in the process.
The country, which has long been in want of skilled workers for its industries, also agreed to employ 50 percent of the total foreign workers from Bangladesh.
“The prevailing deadlock might lead to an extensive damage to manpower export from Bangladesh if the government fails to address the issue properly,” feared a recruiter.
Manpower Export - Malaysia blacklists 16 Bangladeshi recruiters
December 1, 2007
Nearly 100 recruiting agencies, in connivance with some corrupt government officials of both Malaysia and Bangladesh, are engaged in forgery of passports and other documents and the unholy competition of securing job demand letters from Malaysia, manpower businesses said.
Such acts were partly responsible for Malaysian government’s imposition of ban on employment of Bangladeshi workers for almost a decade, they said.
Besides, the malpractice increased the migration cost for the Bangladeshi workers going to Malaysia
Recent blacklisting of 16 such Bangladeshi recruiting agencies and detaining of two Bangladeshis who were engaged in manpower business under the cover of herbal medicine business in Kuala Lumpur bear testimony to the fact.
A report published in the August 11 issue of Malaysian daily ‘The Star’ said Malaysian authorities blacklisted the agencies for bringing in 103 workers with false documents in the first week of this month.
The blacklisted agencies are Paradise International, Akeya Trade International, Akia Trading International, The Super Eastern Ltd, Surma Overseas Ltd., PMP International Company Ltd, Sakib International, Golden View Ltd, Al Itteshal Air Services Ltd, Al Khalesh Ltd, Mat International, ATT International, ABC Avenue, Master Express, Sukma International and Fantasy International.
Five Malaysian agents recruiting workers from Bangladesh are also on the run following Malaysia’s Immigration Department’s discovery that they had hired the 103 Bangladeshi workers with false documents.
Under an amnesty programme two years ago, illegal workers including those from Bangladesh were given permission to return to Malaysia if they had proper work permits.
Some 11,000 illegal Bangladeshis are said to have taken up the amnesty offer.
Datuk Ishak, director general of immigration in Malaysia, told the Malaysian daily that he witnessed workers carrying false documents at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Each worker had paid between Malaysian Ringgit 12,000 and 18,000 (Tk 2.5 lakh to 3.6 lakh) to go to Malaysia, Datuk said.
Manpower businesses fear that many more agencies would be caught if the Malaysian authorities conduct a probe into how the 11,000 workers went to Malaysia after opportunity was offered under the amnesty.
Nearly 90 per cent of the 11,000 workers went to Malaysia using the names of the genuine workers who did not go to Malaysia after they had been sent to Bangladesh under general amnesty as their date of working in Malaysia expired, said a recruiting agent in Dhaka.
The immigration officials both in Bangladesh and Malaysia were involved in this illegal process, he said, adding that the workers had to go through fingerprint tests with biometrics machines and it could not be forged unless the officials concerned had a hand.
Recruiting agencies are afraid that the newly opened manpower export to Malaysia would be seriously hampered if the government and Baira (Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies) fail to take strong action against the blacklisted agencies.
Under the present guidelines of importing manpower, Malaysia restricted engagement of any representatives of Malaysian employers or Bangladeshi recruiting agencies in Malaysia as engagement of representatives ‘creates anomalies in the business and add to the workers’ cost of going’.
Under the new system, Malaysian government will directly send the workers’ job demand letters to Baira, which will distribute those to all its members.
But Baira members are yet to agree on how the distribution will be made.
A powerful quarter allegedly engaged in forgery and unholy competition through lobbying the Malaysian employers and practising bribery have been claiming that agencies would collect job demand letters from the employers as per their capacity.
The manpower business experts have expressed the fear that the unholy competition of lobbying the employers and collecting demand letters will continue if the agencies are entitled to collect the letters directly from the employers.
Unless the agencies engaged in such practices are punished and an equal distribution system is introduced, newly opened business with Malaysia will be seriously hampered, said a business expert.