Reza Mahmud :
Despite current downtrend of sending manpower abroad the government is optimistic of grabbing new labour markets creating skilled workers.
Expatriates’ Welfare and Employment Overseas Minister Imran Ahmed told The New Nation recently while talking about the potentials of the labour markets abroad.
The minister said different countries have kept their labour markets stopped from hiring foreign workers due to ongoing pandemic which have made a slow pace of sending manpower abroad.
However, the ministry is not pessimistic about regaining strong pace shortly.
“The labour market is not a small place. It is a broad matter. There are huge potentials for Bangladeshi manpower across the world,” Imran Ahmed said.
“If you see the demographic change in developed and emerging countries, it will be clear that space of sending manpower will be extended day by day in most European countries and other parts in the planet,” the minister said.
The Expatriates’ Welfare Minister said Japan needs to hire huge foreign workers as its young workforce is decreasing widely.
He said also that most of the European countries even in Asia’s China will hire foreign manpower to meet their demand as their next generation is on shrinking trend.
Many countries in Europe are suffering from manpower shortages to keep their industries and other financial sectors on run.
The Expatriates’ Welfare Minister said that his ministry has made a plan to give necessary trainings to our manpower as per the demands of the new potential markets.
“We are redecorated our training centers and its logistics supports so that we can provide necessary training to make skilled manpower in line with the demand of the fresh markets across the globe,” he said. Number of Bangladeshi workers are now working in Middle-Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
Meanwhile, several lakh workers are also working in Malaysia. Brunei Darussalam and Singapore also are the important destinations for Bangladeshi manpower.
Meanwhile, the government is looking around for new territories to discover fresh labour markets.
“We are keen to create diversity in labour markets,” the minister said.
As part of the efforts, the expatriates’ welfare ministry started contacting and visiting the possible potential labour markets abroad.
As a result, manpower recruiting has recently started in East Europea’s Romania.
Several hundred Bangladeshi workers has been sent to the country in last few months.
In this backdrop, the ministry signed a MoU with Greece on Wednesday for sending 4000 workers annually in the agricultural sector of the country.
Experts of the sector have marked the achievement as a breakthrough saying that it will help to open the doors of other European countries for employing Bangladeshi Manpower.
When contacted, Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, former Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), told The New Nation recently, “It will help to open doors in many other European countries as there are huge scope to employ Bangladeshi manpower.”
He said the ministry should look forward to other countries in the continent to sign such MoU.
