Malaysia will recruit Bangladeshi workers in construction, manufacturing and service sectors, visiting Malaysian Human Resources Minister Richard Riot Anak Jaem said Monday.
He said his country will also hire some 12,000 workers from Bangladesh for the plantation sector at Sarawak in Malaysia immediately.
Besides, Malaysia is considering recruiting female workers as house managers and a joint committee has been formed with top officials from Bangladesh and Malaysia governments in this connection, he said.
Mr Jaem was speaking to the journalists after a meeting with Bangladesh Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain at the city's Probashi Kallyan Bhaban.
The Malaysian minister arrived in Dhaka Monday on a two-day visit to Bangladesh for discussing manpower recruitment issues.
He, however, did not mention the specific date and time when the recruitment will take place. Malaysian employers are now hiring Bangladeshi workers only for the plantation sector.
Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the Malaysian government has already agreed to hire Bangladeshi workers for their other sectors.
He also said they have discussed various issues with the visiting Malaysian minister about Government to Government (G to G) migration process.
Mr Hossain said the employing country has assured him of recruiting more Bangladeshis. "The country will recruit more workers from here when opportunity is created," he added. About 5,000 Bangladeshis went to Malaysia under G to G arrangement after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in November 2012. Although there is high demand of foreign workers, the Southeast Asian country recruited very insignificant number of workers from Bangladesh.
In 2009 Malaysian government cancelled visas of majority of Bangladeshi workers there when some 300,000 became irregular out of total 500,000 Bangladeshis.
Secretary of the expatriates' welfare ministry Khondokar Showkat Hossain, Director General of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), Begum Shamsun Nahar, among others, were present at the press briefing.
