South Korea has lauded Bangladesh’s management of expatriates after reopening the labour market.
Expatriates told Dhaka Tribune that the management in South Korea has praised Bangladeshi management as unlike other countries because none of the results of the Covid-19 test were deemed faulty.
Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) Executive Director and Joint Secretary Md Mahabubur Rahaman said that partners in South Korea have appreciated the measures taken by the expatriates welfare ministry.
“We have upgraded our initiatives. Earlier we conducted two tests while this time we are conducting three,” he said, adding that the additional antigen test is carried out on the fourth day of the quarantine.
“Besides, the workers are heavily safeguarded at the airport before boarding the plane,” he added.
He said that South Korean envoy to Dhaka Lee Jang-keun, lauded the measures they have taken till no.
“The management at the Bangladesh government is unbelievable,” said Ferdous Nawshad, one of the expatriates who left for South Korea on Monday night.
“I along with many others were under a five-day quarantine in a hotel at Uttara and tested thrice before arriving at the airport,” he added.
Ferdous, a mid-skilled expatriate working in the manufacturing sector, was ecstatic to return to work after a 20-month hiatus.
Ferdous is one 123 expatriates who left for South Korea from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka via chartered flights operated by a Korean air company on Monday night.
Among them, 14, like Ferdous had been working since before and 109 were freshers. Some 1,447 expats have left for South Korea as of December 21, 2021.
BOESL Executive Director Mahabubur Rahaman said some 520 more expatriates are expected to leave the country in three flights within this month.
South Korea is one of the expatriates receiving countries that remained very critical about covid test results for the sourcing countries.
The country had imposed a 20-month-ban on receiving manpower from other countries after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
It later opened the market at the request of the sourcing countries but with several conditions including fixing a quota for different countries.
Bangladesh was allocated to source 1,967 workers under the new system.
On Sunday, during his visit to Dhaka airport, Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmad said his ministry has taken all possible measures to ensure a better future for the expatriates.
He added that they will take all sorts of initiatives to broaden the labour market abroad, hoping that South Korea will recruit more workers from Bangladesh.
On April 7 this year, the ambassador told the media that they would recruit more Bangladesh workers through EPS.
According to the expatriates welfare ministry, the expatriates going under Employment Permit System (EPS) will join manufacturing jobs, mostly mid, lower-mid skill works.
Over 20,000 Bangladeshi workers went to the country after the system was initiated but the government has no data on the number of returnees.
Bangladesh has been exporting manpower to South Korea since 1994 and according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) some 42,569 Bangladeshi workers went to the country till March 31, 2022.
