Malaysian firm to distribute MRPs among BD expats in KSA
Thursday, 19 June 2014
The Cabinet Purchase Committee on Thursday approved a Malaysian firm’s tender for the distribution of machine readable passports (MRPs) among the expatriate Bangladeshis living in Saudi Arabia. The Malaysian firm, IRIS Corporation Berhad, will charge US$ 9 for providing each MRP to Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia in addition to the existing passport fee. A Cabinet Purchase Committee meeting, chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, endorsed the tender. According to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE), some 2.5-3.0 million Bangladeshis, mostly workers, now live in Saudi Arabia. But the government will appoint the Malaysian firm for distributing MRPs among 1.5 million expatriate Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia. It is not clear how the rest of the expatriates in Saudi Arabia will get the MRPs, according to a news agency.