The government will soon sign an MoU with the Malaysian government to see more Bangladeshi migrants being recruited under Kuala Lumpur’s new manpower recruitment scheme titled G2G Plus, sources have said.
However, officials at the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune that there is likely to be an increase in migration cost; it would now cost Tk42,000 instead of an earlier estimation of Tk37,000 quoted in September last year.
Under the G2G Plus scheme, Malaysia would recruit Bangladeshi workers in construction, service, manufacturing and agriculture sectors; earlier, hirings were done only for plantations.
According to the draft MoU, around 1.5 million Bangladeshi migrants will be recruit by Malaysia over the next three years under the G2G Plus scheme.
At a scheduled meeting today, Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam will seek the cabinet’s approval for the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The meeting will be presided by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Earlier, the prime minister twice rejected the proposed MoU: the first time in September reportedly due to high migration costs and then again in November for unknown reasons.
“As the government wants our manpower to go to Malaysia, very soon after the cabinet approves the draft of the MoU, the two countries – Bangladesh and Malaysia – will take initiatives to implement the MoU and the process of sending manpower to Malaysia,” Overseas Employment Secretary Iftekhar Haider Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
After the cabinet approves, both countries would hold discussion on where the MoU will be signed, he added.
Last September, a six-member Malaysian delegation led by the secretary general of the country’s Ministry of Human Resources, Saripuddin Bin Hj Kasim, visited Bangladesh to attend the sixth joint working group meeting with the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.
After the meeting Minister Nurul Islam quoted the delegation as saying that the migration cost would be Tk36,000-Tk37,000 if anyone is recruited via Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training; but for migration through private recruiters, the amount was going to be Tk60,000.
Malaysian government’s recruitment of Bangladeshi workers stopped in 2008 for high migration costs and forgery by local migration recruiters. According to the government, 131,762 Bangladeshi workers went to Malaysia in 2008.
On February 9 last year, Bangladesh signed an MoU with Saudi Arabia to send manpower under 12 categories. As per the MoU, Saudi Arabia has recruited a total of 67,721 workers from Bangladesh during the last one year.
