Bangladesh to push for lowering migration costs in Greece
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
A Z M Anas
Bangladesh will push for lowering migration costs when world leaders meet in Greece Wednesday to discuss ways for enhancing the development impact of human mobility, officials said Sunday.
A country delegation led by overseas employment minister Dr. Khondakar Mosharraf Hossain will take part in the United Nations forum devoted to migration and development, they said.
The delegation includes officials of foreign and overseas employment ministries and Bangladesh's permanent representative in Geneva mission.
"Higher migration cost is a real deterrent. We can't allow it to happen any longer," a senior official at the overseas employment ministry said.
"Frankly, local and foreign recruiting agents are fleecing tens of thousands of our desperate jobseekers. The international community has a huge role to play in stopping this malpractice," he added.
Bangladesh's overseas migration regime is the costliest in the region and private manpower recruiters and foreign-based agents are widely blamed for pushing up the costs.
A World Bank study has estimated that a Bangladeshi migrant worker pays on an average US$2,300 for securing a foreign job, almost five times the country's 2008 per capita income of $480.
UN secretary general Ban-Ki-Moon will address the forum to be attended by representatives of 130 governments and over 40 international organisations.
Officials said fat fees levied on work permits by foreign-based agents have also unleashed an unholy "visa trading" among hundreds of local recruiting firms, who compete for obtaining migrant visas at higher rates.
Bangladesh will push for lowering migration costs when world leaders meet in Greece Wednesday to discuss ways for enhancing the development impact of human mobility, officials said Sunday.
A country delegation led by overseas employment minister Dr. Khondakar Mosharraf Hossain will take part in the United Nations forum devoted to migration and development, they said.
The delegation includes officials of foreign and overseas employment ministries and Bangladesh's permanent representative in Geneva mission.
"Higher migration cost is a real deterrent. We can't allow it to happen any longer," a senior official at the overseas employment ministry said.
"Frankly, local and foreign recruiting agents are fleecing tens of thousands of our desperate jobseekers. The international community has a huge role to play in stopping this malpractice," he added.
Bangladesh's overseas migration regime is the costliest in the region and private manpower recruiters and foreign-based agents are widely blamed for pushing up the costs.
A World Bank study has estimated that a Bangladeshi migrant worker pays on an average US$2,300 for securing a foreign job, almost five times the country's 2008 per capita income of $480.
UN secretary general Ban-Ki-Moon will address the forum to be attended by representatives of 130 governments and over 40 international organisations.
Officials said fat fees levied on work permits by foreign-based agents have also unleashed an unholy "visa trading" among hundreds of local recruiting firms, who compete for obtaining migrant visas at higher rates.