Bangladesh on Tuesday signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with Japan to send specified skilled workers to Japan.
The MoC was signed by the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry of Bangladesh with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Policy Agency of Japan at Immigration Service Agency, Ministry of Justice in Tokyo, reports BSS.
Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Rownaq Jahan and Immigration Services Agency of Japan Commissioner Shoko Sasaki signed the MoC on behalf of their respective countries.
Bangladesh Ambassador in Tokyo Rabab Fatima, Director of the Office of International Affairs Yasuaki Imai, Joint Secretary of MoEWOE M Jahangir Alam, Counsellor (Labour) of Bangladesh Embassy in Tokyo and other high officials of two countries were present during the signing ceremony.
Bangladesh as a specified skilled workers sending country, is the 9th nation that signed the MoC with Japan, Rownaq Jahan said, adding, “The MoC will create opportunity to send specified skilled workers to Japan under certain terms and condition and both the countries will be mutually benefitted.”
Under the MoC, Japanese language proficiency test and skills proficiency test are the basic requirements for selection as ‘Specified Skilled Workers’ in 14 fields/sectors into two categories within the next 5 years.
The 14 sectors included care worker, building cleaning management, machine parts and tooling industries, industrial machinery industries, electric, electronics and information industries, construction industry, shipbuilding/ship machinery industry, automobile maintenance, aviation industry, accommodation industry, agriculture, fishery and aquaculture, manufacture of food and beverages, Food service industry.
The specified skilled workers’ (category-i) contract can be renewed for five years if they pass a Japanese language test and have a certain skill level in their designated field.
Rownaq Jahan informed that the government is taking various initiatives to match abundance of skilled workforce, with Japan’s demand for manpower.
The MoEWOE launched a four-month long Japanese language course through its 26 technical training centres across the country since February 2018.
Besides, many private organisations are taking initiatives to teach Japanese language course.
