BANGLADESH wants to explore the potentials of sending skilled workers to Japan as the country is likely to open its job market for foreign workers. The matter is likely to be raised at Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled to be held on December 17 in Tokyo.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque and Japan’s senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Kazuyuki Yamazaki are set to lead the respective side in the talks. Japan has planned to take skilled foreign workers. And so, attracting Japanese investment and increasing exports to the country would get priority in the talks. The Japan government took decision to receive more foreign workers to cater to the worsening labour shortage and the country was also assessing the possibility of creating a new immigration ministry, which would remain free from the control of the justice ministry.
The two sides are also likely to discuss matters related to Japanese support in infrastructure development in Bangladesh and sustainable repatriation of forcibly displaced Rohingyas to Myanmar. Bangladesh-Japan bilateral two-way trade was $3 billion in 2017, according to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry statistics.
So we have a golden opportunity to secure a great deal for our workers in Japan’s rich economy. We can easily export their services and they would be able to send in billions of dollars of remittances which would bolster our Balance of Payments.
The good thing is that the possibility for corruption in the Japanese part of the scheme will be negligible. Thus we must ensure that our side of the negotiating table offers the Japanese government sensible solutions to the problems.
We must learn from our past mistakes about sending workers to the foreign soil. If the costs of sending a worker suddenly quadruple, if we can’t send high quality workers or train them properly for the tasks which they are supposed to do, it is certain that Japan won’t ask us again. So it’s essential that this time the errors of the past aren’t repeated.
