The Bangladesh government's embargo on its nationals visiting war-torn Libya might end up costing Dhaka to lose its grip on Tripoli's manpower market, local recruitment agencies have cautioned.
The government says it is still not the appropriate time to withdraw the ban as a UN-backed government is yet to take control in Libya.
But Abul Basher, the president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), thinks the situation in Tripoli was stable enough for the embargo to be lifted.
“Although the political and social situation in Libya is now stable, the [Bangladesh] Foreign Ministry has still not withdrawn its embargo on Bangladeshi nationals visiting Libya,” he said at a press conference in Baira's office yesterday.
Bangladeshi recruiting agencies have received demands from 171 Libyan employment agencies for 52,000 Bangladeshi workers, he said.
After scrutinising those employers, the Libyan Embassy in Dhaka had already issued 4,000 visas for aspirant Bangladeshis. “But due to the embargo, those 4,000 visa holders cannot go to Libya and already those visas dates have expired,” Basher said.
The delay in lifting the embargo might have harsh consequences for Bangladesh as other countries including India, Pakistan, and Philippines have already resumed exporting manpower to Libya, the Baira chief said.
“Libyan employers have cautioned us that they would stop taking workers from Bangladesh in the future if we fail to send workers now,” Basher said.
With the big manpower markets in the Middle East already shrinking, lifting the travel embargo to Libya might allow around 100,000 aspirants to get jobs in the Libyan market, he said.
Basher added that the 40,000 Bangladeshi expatriates currently residing in Libya claim that they were now safe as the situation in Libya was stable.
However, the chargé d'affaires of the Bangladesh Embassy to Libya, Muhammad Mozammel Haque, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Libya is not safe now and any kind of premature decision by our government would lead to adverse affect on our labour market in future as there is no UN-backed or internationally recognised government right now. We are waiting for the UN-backed national unity government to take over Tripoli and the reaction of the international community over that.”
On October 8 last year, the Foreign Ministry alerted Bangladeshi nationals not to travel to Libya because of the ongoing fighting and deteriorating security situation there.