Italy won't lift bar on BD expats' entry now

Italy government has not agreed to the request for withdrawing restrictions on entry of Bangladeshi expatriates to that country until December 31.
Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen said this on Monday.
Responding to a question of the FE correspondent, the minister said the ministry communicated at different levels in this regard, but the Italian government refused to reconsider the decision.
According to him, Bangladeshi expatriates are largely responsible for this situation, as they had frequently violated the quarantine rules introduced by the Italian government.
"Firstly, a good number of Bangladeshis were found Covid positive, as they were allowed to go back to Italy a few months ago. When they were put on quarantine by the Italian authorities, many of them skipped the quarantine."
"Secondly, when the Italian government asked for mandatory Covid test for all Bangladeshi expatriates in a city near Rome, many of them left the city to avoid the test."
These incidents were highlighted by the local media there, and then apparently under pressure the authorities were compelled to impose the restriction, he noted.
But the minister said Italy has agreed to a proposal of Bangladesh for recruiting labourers for agriculture sector.
"They used to take such labourers previously. But later it was found that many of them did not return to Bangladesh after completion of their contracts. Then they stopped the recruitment."
"Now they have agreed to our proposal to resume the recruitment, when we assured them that our workers will return to country after the end of their contracts there."
Dr Momen mentioned that recently some Bangladeshi workers were not allowed to enter Dubai, as they did not have sponsorships from the employers.
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