Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur are expected to settle unresolved issues related to hiring of manpower, raising hope for reopening of the Malaysian labour market for Bangladeshi workers, officials said.
In this regard, a delegation led by Malaysian Human Resources Minister M Saravanan was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka in the early hours of today (Thursday) to discuss the issues with Bangladesh's Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad later in the day.
In addition, a secretary-level Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting will also be held on the day, they said.
Malaysia, a vital market for local workers, signed a fresh deal with Bangladesh on December 19, 2021 for hiring workers for different sectors. However, the recruitment process could not be started due to different factors, including alleged syndication in the process.
Md Shahidul Alam, director general of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), confirmed to the FE that the Malaysian delegation would land in Dhaka at 12.00 midnight to hold meetings on Thursday.
The reopening has come after about four years' ban following alleged syndication in the previous recruitment system. The Malaysian government stopped hiring workers from Bangladesh in September 2018.
Currently, Malaysia needs foreign workers for its various sectors - plantations, agriculture, manufacturing, services, mining and quarrying, construction, and domestic help.
Manpower recruiters hoped that a significant number of Bangladeshi workers would find jobs in the Southeast Asian country after it resumes worker recruitment.
However, they protested against any syndication in the process of sending workers to Malaysia. The recruiters also demanded bringing the alleged 25-member syndicate under punishment.
At a programme on Tuesday, they also threatened that they would start demonstrations on the street if any kind of syndication is allowed in the recruitment process.
They urged the expatriates' welfare minister to remain strict in his current stance on disallowing any syndicate, in order to protect the workers' benefits and rights.
BAIRA (Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies) Grand Alliance against Syndicate organised the views-exchange meeting at a city hotel.
Civil society members, who also participated in the programme, suggested stopping unethical practices and taking steps against perpetrators of the syndication.
If all recruiters do not get opportunities to send workers to the Southeast Asian country, they do not want the market to be open in this way, added the civil society representatives.
More than 1.0 million Bangladeshis have gone to Malaysia for jobs since 1978, as per the BMET data.
Malaysia is an important job destination for Bangladeshi workers, as they fetched more than US$ 2.0 billion in remittance from the country in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
