Reza Mahmud :
Different countries in Europe are opening doors for Bangladeshi manpower which creates opportunities for sending 50,000 workers to the continent annually, sources said.
Several European countries have inked agreements on hiring Bangladeshi manpower recently while some others showed interest of recruiting workers from Bangladesh to cover huge worker shortages.
The manpower exporters, however, said that inefficient training centers of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) is seen as an obstacle to coping the vast European labour markets.
Sources said, Italy, showed green signal of hiring workers from different countries, including Bangladesh.
The government of Italy launched receiving applications from February to March from the employers in this regard. Bangladesh Embassy in Rome stated it.
The Italian government will issue 69,700 visas for 31 non-EU countries, including Bangladesh, sources said.
The validity of a total of 42,000 seasonal visas will be maximum nine months and about 27,700 non-seasonal ones will be two years with a provision for extension.
Meanwhile, Greece, has opened its labour market for Bangladeshi workers after Dhaka and Athens signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regards on February 9, this year.
As per the MoU, 4000 Bangladeshi workers will get work permits every year in Greece. After signing the MoU, Minister Imran Ahmad said in a press briefing that Bangladeshi workers would now be able to go to the European country safely and work legally. Besides, Portugal also decided to hire 80 thousand foreign manpower including Bangladesh.
The country’s government has taken this plan to overcome the shortage of skilled workers to revive its industry and service sectors which in sufferings of acute manpower shortages Spain also passed plans to hire manpower from foreign countries including Bangladesh.
On the other hand, Romania decided to recruit around 40,000 foreign workers including Bangladeshis, according to a report published in Romanian media. The European country has already opened its consular office in Dhaka to ease the visa process, foreign ministry official said. Immigration fee has been set at Tk1,65,000 each, sources said.
Meanwhile, the consular mission of Romania in Bangladesh granted work visas to 5,400 Bangladeshi citizens between April and July in 2022.
When contacted, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed told The New Nation, “Several European countries are opening their doors for Bangladeshi manpower.” He said, “Greece, Italy, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia and other countries of this continent are potentials for our workers.” The Minister said that his Ministry is working with its utmost efforts to create vast labour markets in the region as there are manpower shortages.
When contacted, Farhad Mahmud Tipu, Proprietor of Approach People Recruitment, an agency of exporting manpower abroad told The New Nation on Tuesday, “If every wing works properly, there are potentials of sending about 50,000 workers to European countries annually.”
“There are a vast possibility of recruiting more than 2,00000 workers in a single country of Romania,” he said.
Manpower exporters said, most of the European countries have huge demands of hiring farm workers in agriculture sector. Besides, they also have demands of workers in constructions, still mills, bakery factories, health sectors and other manufacturing factories and service sectors.
They said that there are shortages in skilled workers in Bangladesh. When contacted, Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, former Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) told The New Nation, “Exporters suffer huge when search skilled manpower as there are inefficiency in our training centers in the country.”
Meanwhile, the expatriates’ welfare minister said that all problems are being resolved of BMET’s training centers. The centers are reshuffling with time befitting subjects, curriculums and trainings.
