Bangladesh looks to send its skilled labour to Russia for the shipbuilding industry as the country needs foreign workers in this sector.
To this end, Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Russian shipbuilding company recently, said officials.
"It (Russia) could be an important market for us," said BOESL managing director Dr Mallick Anwar Hossain.
"Once we enter the market, many people can be employed there. And we're trying for that," he added.
When asked, the BOESL chief said he is expecting a piece of good news by November about export workforce to that country.
The migration cost for workers going to Russia would be about Tk 41000 each, and the salary would vary from Tk 70,000-90,000 ($700-900) depe-nding on skills and experience.
Many people work in the shipbuilding industry in Bangladesh. Besides, many skilled people are coming out with training from different institutes of marine technology, cited Mr Hossain.
So, it is a good opportunity for them, he continued.
Currently, there are some 20 international and 100 local shipyards and dockyards in the country.
These shipyards build nearly 100 vessels a year. Of them, some are of 10,000 dead weight tonnage in size.
More than 150,000 skilled and semi-skilled workers are employed in this labour-intensive sector.
An estimated 2.0-million people are directly or indirectly involved in the industry.
Bangladesh has a total of six marine technology institutes, offering a significant number of aspirants training in skills development every year.
The country sends manpower to a few countries, especially in Singapore, to work in shipbuilding.
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