Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur have agreed to sort out the contentious issue of governments-led recruitment of Bangladeshi workers by Malaysian employers, officials said.
People familiar with the situation say the Malaysian employers are divided over Government to Government arrangement to recruit workers from Bangladesh.
The consensus came at a recent meeting between top officials of Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and Malaysian Human Resources Ministry in The Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur (KL).
"We've agreed to hold meeting with Malaysian employers to assess demand for Bangladeshi workers and get all things sorted," secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Khondaker Showkat Hossain told the FE.
With a joint initiative of Bangladesh High Commission and Malaysian Human Resources ministry will arrange the meeting with employers in several groups shortly, he said. In the beginning of 2015, they will organise a conference with employers.
The secretary said it is one of the vital options to create demand for Bangladeshi workers among the employers.
He, however, said the southeast Asian economy needs large scale foreign workers in sectors such as manufacturing, service, agriculture and plantation.
The meeting also amended the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) so that Malaysia can hire Bangladeshis in its Sarawak province.
The secretary said some 12,000 workers will secure job in plantation sector in Sarawak province shortly. '
"We will able to start sending workers in Sarawak by January," he said.
The Malaysian cabinet has already approved a proposal for hiring workers from Bangladesh Sarawak, he added.
The meeting also agreed to employ workers in construction, manufacturing, service and agriculture sectors.
The Malaysian authorities have also agreed abo inter-ministerial coordination with its concerned ministries, the top ministry official said. Although there is an acute crisis of workers, employers are not submitting demand to the Malaysian authority. Some of the employers still prefer private manpower agencies to recruit.
Despite a bulging demand for workers, only 8,027 Bangladeshis went to Malaysia after the signing of the deal in November 2012.
In 2009, Malaysia imposed a ban on manpower hiring from Bangladesh following illegal labour export by a section of recruiting agencies. But, after long negotiations, the market is poised to open up.
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