Saudi Arabia has officially lifted the ban on recruitment of workers from Bangladesh, thus opening the Bangladeshi labour market in the realm after six years.
The Saudi Arabian authorities have confirmed that the Royal Court of the country has approved the decision to remove the ban yesterday, according to a Foreign Ministry press release issued.
A high-level Saudi delegation comprised of representatives from the ministries concerned is expected to visit Bangladesh shortly to have a discussion on formulating the modalities of recruitment, the release added.
“It is a big achievement for Bangladesh as we have been pursuing this for long,” Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We expect to receive the delegation by mid-February and will work on a detailed recruitment procedure. Both sides will discuss the number of potential recruits, where they will be employed, minimum wage, demand of workers and other relevant issues,” he said.
But the Foreign Ministry official said it would not be a government-to-government recruitment arrangements as the Saudi Arabian authorities were not interested in such schemes.
Saudi Arabia, the biggest labour market for Bangladesh, stopped hiring Bangladeshi workers in 2008. About two million Bangladeshis, who are working in the kingdom, send billions of dollars in remittance annually.
Bangladesh has government-to-government manpower export arrangements with Malaysia but the scheme yielded no significant result as only several thousand workers were sent under the system.
Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and former foreign minister Dipu Moni visited Saudi Arabia several times to negotiate the removal of the recruitment restriction.
Meanwhile, Jatiya Party leader Golam Moshi was announced as the new ambassador to Saudi Arabia early in January.
“The government strove to make it happen and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was very sincere about re-opening the Bangladeshi labour market in Saudi Arabia,” Moshi told the Dhaka Tribune.
Moshi will be succeeding Md Shahidul Islam, who has been appointed the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia.
“I am expected to leave for Riyadh by the middle of this month,” said Moshi.
He said his key objective would be to enable the Bangladeshis to stay in the kingdom without facing any harassment.
