Bangladesh missions abroad should improve their services to properly extend cooperation to thousands of expatriate Bangladeshis, migration experts said at a discussion on Wednesday.
They also called for adequate allocation of funds for the labour welfare wings of Bangladesh missions in the national budget to upgrade their activities.
The Institute of Informatics and Development (IID) in partnership with PROKAS programme of the British Council organised the discussion titled 'Improving Services in Bangladesh High Commissions' in the city.
According to the experts, there are a total of 69 Bangladesh missions abroad and only 31 of them have labour wings at present.
Senior government officials, migrant rights activists and journalists took part in the policy discussion.
Speaking as the chief guest, Director General of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Salim Reza said the labour wing officials were trying their best to provide necessary services to migrant workers who were seeking assistance in the destination countries.
He also suggested that labour welfare activities could be decentralised in countries where a large number of migrants are working, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), by involving the Bangladeshi Diaspora in such activities.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry's joint secretary Sarwar Alam said they extended the welfare services to six major locations in the KSA for Bangladeshi workers.
In the KSA, the embassies of India and the Philippines have engaged some representatives of their communities in maintaining liaison between workers and the embassies for better services, he said, adding that those representatives were accredited by their embassies.
Mr Sarwar, who had previously worked as a labour councillor at Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh, suggested that both manpower and budget allocations should be increased for the labour wings to enhance their capacity.
BMET Director Nurul Islam, who presented a keynote paper, said the labour wings were dedicated to providing welfare services to migrant workers.
IID Chief Executive Sayeed Ahamed also spoke at the discussion.
Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme Chairman Shakirul Islam said Bangladeshi workers were sending back their hard-earned remittances to the country. So, a certain portion of the remittances should be used for the welfare of migrant workers.
Referring to the incidents of violence against female workers in the KSA, he said legal steps should be taken in the destination countries to bring the errant employers to book.
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