16,000 Bangladeshis permitted to work in Maldives

---

The Maldives government has accorded legal permission to over 16,000 Bangladeshis to stay and work there, reports bdnews24.com.
Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told the media Sunday on his return from a four-day trip to the island country.
"A total of 16,100 Bangladeshis in Maldives had no legal papers. We approached the Maldivian
leaders including the President and discussed the matter and then they permitted our people to stay there legally," said the minister.
The ministry sources said about 40,000 Bangladeshis now live in the Maldives, which is a small island nation of about 300,000 people.
The island country faces threat of extinction due to global climate change especially temperature hike.
The Maldives government has demanded shifting its people elsewhere before the impending deluge.
On the news published in the Bangladesh media that the Maldives would not recruit any more Bangladeshi workers, the minister said, "Bangladesh may be able to send in builders in great numbers if the proposed construction works come off eventually."