Deal with KL by this month

Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur yesterday finalised the provisions of the proposed G2G Plus agreement that will see recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.

Expatriates Welfare Minister Nurul Islam said both the government and private recruitment agencies would send workers to Malaysia under the new system.

He was talking to reporters at Probashi Kalyan Bhaban in the city after a joint delegation of Bangladesh and Malaysian officials met him at his office.

About the migration costs, the minister said it was fixed at a maximum of Tk 50,000 for each worker.

Earlier, a five-member Malaysian team attended a special meeting of the Bangladesh-Malaysia Joint Working Committee on the government to government (G2G) recruitment system.

Expatriates Welfare Secretary Khandker Md Iftekhar Haider and Malaysian Human Resources Secretary General Saripuddin bin Hj Kasim led their respective sides at the meeting.

Malaysian High Commissioner in Dhaka Norlin Binti Othman and Bangladesh High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur Shahidul Islam were present. The Malaysian delegation arrived in Dhaka on Monday.

Iftekhar Haider said the meeting discussed in detail the recruitment provisions of G2G Plus. The two sides agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on the issue.

“We will place the draft of the final agreement before the cabinet. We are hopeful about signing the MoU by this month,” added the secretary.

He said a worker would get a minimum monthly salary of MR 900 (Tk 17,000) plus overtime and free accommodation.

Currently, Bangladeshi workers go to Malaysia under the G2G system which was introduced in November 2012. Some 10,000 workers went to the Southeast Asian country since then, but all of them landed jobs in the plantation sector, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.

Officials at the expatriates welfare ministry said the recruitment has been slow over the years as Malaysia didn't open its job markets in construction and services sectors.

Another Malaysian delegation visited Dhaka in September to join the sixth meeting of the Joint Working Committee on G2G. The team at that meeting placed the new G2G Plus system.

Under the new system, Malaysia will open its construction, manufacturing and services sectors for Bangladeshi workers, officials said.

According to media reports, the Malaysian authorities planned to appoint an outsourcing company to manage the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers.

However, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said their government didn't appoint any outsourcing company for this purpose, a Malaysian daily reported yesterday.

A Bangladeshi official who was present at yesterday's meeting said they didn't place the issues of salary, overtime, travel expenses and other costs in the meeting as those were already covered by the current G2G deal, she added.

The workers, she said, would have to pay for their one-way air fare.