BAIRA demands govt's diplomatic efforts
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
FE Report
Leaders of Bangladeshi recruiting agents Monday urged the government to launch diplomatic efforts to raise manpower export to the country's top four job destinations for skilled and non-skilled workers namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia and Iraq.
"Bangladesh can export 0.8-1.0 million (8-10 lakh) manpower in 2010 if restrictions on export to those countries go," Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) President Golam Mustafa said at a press conference in the city.
Mustafa said the Saudi visa issuance rate for workers has dropped to five per cent, while there is complete embargo on manpower export to Malaysia and Kuwait. Though Iraq has resumed import, the rate is still very low, he added.
According to the government's Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), out of around 6.5 million Bangladeshi workers working abroad, over 2.5 million live and work in Saudi Arabia alone.
Bangladeshi labourers remitted foreign exchanges worth US$10.72 billion in 2009, when the country exported 475,278 new manpower.
The chief of 800-member recruiters association hoped that the inflow of remittance would rise further this year and urged the government to take necessary measures to facilitate the increase.
The rate of expulsion of Bangladeshi workers due to their involvement with irregularities and illegal activities has been up, according to Mustafa.
He said 72,210 Bangladeshi labourers came back home in 2009 and 70,960 of them had gone abroad for work without passport.
He urged the government to check Bangladeshi labourers' going abroad on visit visa or without visa.
The BAIRA chief proposed spending 5.0 per cent of the total remittances in setting up international standard technical training centres to create skilled manpower.
Leaders of Bangladeshi recruiting agents Monday urged the government to launch diplomatic efforts to raise manpower export to the country's top four job destinations for skilled and non-skilled workers namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia and Iraq.
"Bangladesh can export 0.8-1.0 million (8-10 lakh) manpower in 2010 if restrictions on export to those countries go," Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) President Golam Mustafa said at a press conference in the city.
Mustafa said the Saudi visa issuance rate for workers has dropped to five per cent, while there is complete embargo on manpower export to Malaysia and Kuwait. Though Iraq has resumed import, the rate is still very low, he added.
According to the government's Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), out of around 6.5 million Bangladeshi workers working abroad, over 2.5 million live and work in Saudi Arabia alone.
Bangladeshi labourers remitted foreign exchanges worth US$10.72 billion in 2009, when the country exported 475,278 new manpower.
The chief of 800-member recruiters association hoped that the inflow of remittance would rise further this year and urged the government to take necessary measures to facilitate the increase.
The rate of expulsion of Bangladeshi workers due to their involvement with irregularities and illegal activities has been up, according to Mustafa.
He said 72,210 Bangladeshi labourers came back home in 2009 and 70,960 of them had gone abroad for work without passport.
He urged the government to check Bangladeshi labourers' going abroad on visit visa or without visa.
The BAIRA chief proposed spending 5.0 per cent of the total remittances in setting up international standard technical training centres to create skilled manpower.