Govt ready to provide all-out support to BD expats in Iraq

The government is well-prepared for providing all types of support to the Bangladeshi expatriates in Iraq, for protecting them from any untoward situation caused by the political turmoil there, the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE) Minister said Thursday.
He said all the Bangladeshi citizens in Iraq are safe, and their employers have already been requested to shift them to safe places, if any situation arises there.
Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said these at a view-exchange meeting on Iraq situation with the representatives of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) and Reporters for Bangladeshi Migrants (RBM) at the ministry office.
The minister urged the migrant workers and their families not to get panicked over the recent political unrest in Iraq.
"If any unexpected situation happens, we will take help from the governments of Iran, Jordan and Kuwait to shift our workers there."
The government has already directed the Bangladesh missions in those countries to communicate with the authorities concerned in this connection.    
"If necessary I will also talk with the Iran government to get assistance for my people," he added.  
The minister said Bangladesh will also get assistance from the international organisations that work for the migrant workers during war. The government has already discussed the evacuation issue with some of them. So the country has the ability to take initiatives instantly, he mentioned.
EWOE secretary Khondaker Showkat Hossain, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) director general Begum Shamsun Nahar, BAIRA president Mohammad Abul Bashar and secretary general Monsur Ahmed Kalam, among others, were also present at the programme.
Nearly 30,000 Bangladeshi migrants are now living in Iraq. Of them, some 15,000 are living in Baghdad and 200 in Mosul and Tikrit.
The government imposed a restriction on manpower export to Iraq on July 14 due to political unrest in the war-torn country.