Brunei started worker recruitment under the government-to-government (G2G) arrangement from Bangladesh in July.
So far, the Southeast Asian nation hired 25 Bangladeshi workers for its trades like construction, services, and hospitality.
Dhaka and Bandar Seri Begawan, which is the country's capital, inked the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during a visit of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah to Bangladesh in October 2022. Private recruiters will not be allowed to send workers to that country as a result.
As per the deal, Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), the state-owned recruiting agency, is designated to send workers to the job destination.
Accordingly, BOESL's contract with the recruiting companies starts this February. So far, 400 job demands have come from 100 employers, said Noor Ahmed, the deputy general manager at the BOESL.
Currently, the outflow is going slow, but there is an opportunity to send 2,000 to 3,000 workers from Bangladesh yearly, he added.
Some 35 workers are scheduled to go to the job market this month.
Brunei, a tiny country, is home to 150,000 foreign workers. Most are from Indonesia, whereas the Philippines and Bangladesh are the second-largest labour-sending countries.
More than 65,000 Bangladeshis have gone to Brunei since 2004, according to the data of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).
However, without having BMET clearance, a significant number of workers went to Brunei in the past, resulting in many human trafficking incidents.
The G2G initiative has come to help combat the illegal migration and human trafficking, officials said.
Noor Ahmed said a section of dishonest manpower recruiters is still active in exploiting workers.
When asked, he said their selection process is transparent and is done online.
"We advertise through newspapers and Facebook for workers."
Talking to the FE, BOESL Managing Director Dr Mallick Anwar Hossain, they have just begun to send workers to Brunei. "Now is not the time to talk about the market.
"We have competencies to send workers according to demand in this market," he said. The workers spend Tk 44,000 to Tk 56,000 as migration costs for a job of semi-skilled and skilled respectively. The monthly wage is Tk 50,000 each.
Brunei needs semi-skilled and skilled manpower for its tourism hub, housing and oil refinery projects etc. Bangladesh can also increase its share of skilled migration by sending demand-based workers to the country.
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