Qatar will not hire semi-skilled workers from Bangladesh, said expatriates' welfare and overseas employment secretary Md Salim Reza on Thursday.
The Gulf nation needs foreign workers in security service and hospitality sectors as it is going to host the FIFA World Cup-2022, he added.
Bangladesh will get opportunities only to send skilled workers needed for these services, Mr Reza mentioned.
He said this while speaking at a press briefing held at Probashi Kalyan Bhaban in Dhaka city on his recent official visit to the Middle-Eastern country.
A Bangladesh delegation, led by Mr Reza, attended the joint technical committee meeting in Doha last Tuesday and Wednesday.
The secretary said a Doha team will visit Dhaka to see the process of sending workers and the capacity to create skilled workers for the peninsula soon.
A Qatari employer showed willingness to recruit 1500 drivers from Bangladesh, he added.
Mr Reza, however, said Qatar did not close its market for Bangladeshi workers.
But it has stopped approval of visa for Bangladeshi workers for the past six months as part of balancing the quota for foreign workers.
But when Mr Reza raised the issue at the meeting, the Qatari authorities assured him of starting visa approval from last Wednesday.
Imran Ahmad, minister for the expatriates' welfare, also attended Thursday's briefing.
Responding to a query, he said a Malaysia-Bangladesh joint working group (JWG) meeting will be held on February 24.
He requested the media to wait until the JWG meeting to get development regarding the opening of the Malaysian market.
On the other hand, the outflow of workers to Qatar declined significantly in 2019, according to the data of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.
The oil-rich country recruited an estimated 50,000 workers from Bangladesh in 2019, but it hired 76,500 workers in 2018, the statistics showed.
Nearly 400,000 Bangladeshis are workers in Qatar now.
