Malaysia has agreed to reopen its labour market to Bangladesh, where the coronavirus pandemic situation has improved.
The South-East Asian nation’s cabinet agreed that M Saravanan, the human resources minister, sign a memorandum of understanding or MoU to take in workers from Bangladesh, reports bdnews24.com citing Malaysian national news agency Bernama.
Saravanan said the entry will be allowed after he signs the MoU ‘soon’ with Imran Ahmad, the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister of Bangladesh.
Amid a shortage, the Malaysian cabinet also agreed on the recruitment of foreign workers for all sectors, apart from the plantation. The other sectors allowed to recruit foreign workers are agriculture, manufacturing, services, mining and quarrying, construction and domestic service.
The human resources ministry will collaborate with the health ministry and the National Security Council to finetune the standard operating procedures on the entry of migrant workers to curb the spread of COVID-19, Saravanan said.
“This includes the quarantine aspects to ensure there’s no compromise on safety and health,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.
Malaysia is reportedly facing a shortage of workers in five 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) sectors, namely plantation, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and services due to poor response from the locals.
About 600,000 Bangladeshi migrants work in the Southeast Asian country.
Many of them returned home at the onset of the pandemic last year, but could not go back to work in Malaysia as the country is allowing only its citizens to fly in from Bangladesh.