The government fears that it might lose the labour market in Oman too after the UAE stopped issuing entry permits to Bangladeshi nationals citing security concern in October 2012.
“We are visiting Oman to address the problems in advance so that our labour market is not lost like that of the United Arab Emirates,” Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) Director General Begum Shamsun Nahar told the Dhaka Tribune on Friday.
A four-member delegation led by Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE) Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain will leave Dhaka for Oman tonight.
The five-day visit of the delegation can be viewed as a preventive measure to protect the labour market in the Middle Eastern country, officials said.
The other members of the delegation are EWOE Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan, BMET Director General and Personal Secretary to the minister Muhammad Ibrahim.
An official of the EWOE ministry says during the visit the delegation will hold bilateral talks to improve the relationship between Bangladesh and Oman.
A member of the delegation says currently Oman is the highest job-offering country for Bangladeshi nationals. “It is essential to protect the job market in Oman.”
The BMET website data shows a total of 14,967 workers went to Oman in January 2013, 11,719 in February, the highest number to an individual country.
Preferring not to be named, the official said: “We will try to understand whether the Oman government has any observation on Bangladeshi workers working there.”
“We are going to Oman at the invitation of the government and we will hold bi-lateral talks on manpower export,” Khandker Mosharraf told the Dhaka Tribune on Friday.
“We will hold discussion with the Bangladeshi community in Oman as the image of the country depends on their conduct and behavior,” the minister said.
The officials say the delegation will hold talks with seven ministers including the interior, labour and health.
Oman recruits foreign workers in various sectors including technicians, carpenters, painters, masons, gardeners, electricians, blacksmiths, plumbers, welders and curtain tailors.
According to the BMET, a total of 607,798 workers went abroad in 2012. Of them, 170,326 went to Oman.
