Home ›› 18 Dec 2021 ›› Front
Bangladesh – after suffering a long bottleneck triggered by the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis – sent 102,861 migrants overseas in November this year, achieving the record highest in terms of monthly figures.
This upward trend still continues in the country as 63,574 migrants went overseas in the first 15 days of December 2021, said Director General Md Shahidul Alam of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).
He added that if this trend continues, Bangladesh will break yet another record. The BMET had documented the country’s previous monthly highest in March 2017, when 100,512 migrants went overseas to work.
With this year’s achievement, the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry is marking the International Migrants Day across the country – with the theme “Shoto Borshey Jatir Pita Suborney Swadhinata, Ovibasoney Anbo Morjada O Noitikota.”
The ministry will also organise an event to award commercially important persons (CIPs), provide scholarships to migrants’ children, and hold campaigns to raise awareness in Dhaka and other parts of the country.
According to the BMET data, in the last 11 months, 485,893 people found employment abroad. Of them, 65,233 migrated in October, 42,008 in September, 19,604 in August and 12,380 in July.
In 2020, 217,669 people migrated from Bangladesh as surging Covid infections around the world disrupted the regular trend of migration, it showed.
Commenting on the matter, expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry Secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said, “Bangladesh explored a number of new destination countries this year, and migration resumed in some existing destinations such as Malaysia as well.
Bangladesh-Malaysia to sign MoU Sunday
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad on Friday said a Bangladeshi delegation is set to visit Malaysia on Saturday, to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the nation on Sunday about sending Bangladeshi workers.
Without disclosing the terms and conditions of the MoU, Imran at a press briefing said the ministry will see to it that the migration cost is lower than the previous years.
“We will not leave a scope for syndication,” he said, adding, “We will keep the door open for all. From our side, all legible agencies will get the opportunity, but Malaysia will make its own decision in this regard.”
Last week in a media statement, the Malaysian government said the country has agreed to sign a MoU with the Bangladesh authorities for resuming workers’ recruitment.
The announcement came after Malaysia decided to reopen its labour market for Bangladeshi workers after a suspension of over three years.
The statement said Bangladeshi workers’ recruitment would resume immediately after a MoU is signed between the nations, in sectors such as plantations, agriculture, manufacturing, services, mining and quarrying, construction, and domestic work.
Over 10.5 lakh Bangladeshi workers have so far migrated to Malaysia. Besides, more than 20,000 workers who came to Bangladesh from Malaysia on vacation before the coronavirus pandemic are now stranded here.
BMET data shows despite the recruitment suspension, 7.89 per cent of the total Bangladeshi migrants currently work in Malaysia.
The bureau statistics show 2,73,201 Bangladeshis were recruited by Malaysian employers in 2007. In September 2018, when Malaysia suspended recruitment, 1,75,927 Bangladeshis had migrated there in the previous nine months.
Since then, Malaysia recruited only 688 Bangladeshis.
According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, the inflow of remittance from Malaysia dropped to $290.86 million in the July-September period of 2021 against the inflow of $607.24 million in the corresponding period in 2020.
The remittance inflow in 2019 was $1.19 billion from Malaysia to Bangladesh.
Other destinations on cards
Speaking with The Business Post on Friday, Overseas Employment Secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said beside Malaysia, Bangladesh has also signed a demand letter with Greece.
“Albania, Malta and Bosnia have shown their interest in hiring Bangladeshi workers as well. A MoU will be signed soon in this regard,” he said, adding that Bangladesh has found Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Poland, Hungary, and Romania as the new mainstream destinations for workers.
Bangladesh has been sending a large number of workers to Japan, Croatia, Senegal, Burundi among other off-crack countries, he added.
Migration database at the ready
Bangladesh has created an online database to maintain discipline in the overseas migration sector, curb human trafficking in the guise of labour migration, and cut migration costs.
BRAC Migration Programme head Shariful Hasan pointed out that migration costs are one of the major challenges faced by Bangladeshis, and a central database will help the country tackle this issue.
Expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment Secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said the ministry is going to send workers to Malaysia on the basis of this database, and it plans to inaugurate this system very soon.
Migrants still suffering
Many migrants still say they suffer at all stages of their migration process, such as getting the Covid-19 vaccine in time, price hike of air tickets and costs associated with the quarantine process in hotels.
In response, Minister Imran Ahmed said the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry is not responsible for any grievances expressed by the migrants, and other ministries involved with this sector are not heeding his recommendations.
“The issues are persisting despite my vocal criticisms and multiple letters.”
Bangladesh is one of the top labourer sending countries in the global market. The country sent 13.5 million workers overseas, who remitted $252,287.11 since 1976, according to the BMET.
