Talks with Saudi: Dhaka to seek help to stop visa trade
Dhaka will seek Riyadh's assistance in stopping visa trade, an illegal practice that pushes up recruitment cost for Bangladeshi workers going to Saudi Arabia, as a joint commission meeting of the two countries begins in Dhaka today.
Protection of female domestic workers and insurance coverage for all Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom will feature prominently at the meeting, according to officials of the foreign affairs ministry, and the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry.
The two-day meeting of the commission will be held at the Economic Relations Division (ERD). The Bangladesh team will be headed by Monowar Ahmed, secretary of the ERD, while Mahir Al Gassim, Saudi deputy minister for international affairs at the labour ministry, will lead the Saudi side.
Saudi Arabia is Bangladesh's largest trade partner in the Middle East, with an annual trade of around $1.5 billion. An estimated 15 lakh Bangladeshis are working in the oil-rich country. Last year, they sent home remittance of $3.65 billion -- almost 20 percent of the country's total remittance of $18.35 billion that year.
Experts say workers going to Saudi Arabia have to pay a high cost because of brokers, who secure work visas from Saudi employers and then sell those at exorbitant prices.
A worker now has to pay up to Tk 3 lakh to go to Saudi Arabia, compared to around Tk 8 lakh in the past. Though the recruitment cost has come down, it is still very high, said an official of the expatriates' welfare ministry.
"Since the visa trade is taking place in Saudi Arabia, we will request the Saudi delegation to address the issue," the official told The Daily Star yesterday.
In many cases, brokers trap jobseekers by saying that if they go overseas with "free visas", they can work freely. This is illegal in Saudi Arabia, the official mentioned.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Golam Moshi, on several occasions told this newspaper that the Saudi authorities detained and deported many Bangladeshi workers because they were working on such "free visas".
Under such illegal arrangement, a worker goes to the Arab country as an employee of a company there, but in reality he or she works for another firm.
The expatriates' welfare ministry official said the Bangladesh delegation at the meeting would seek Saudi intervention to stop such illegal practice.
"Also, we will request the Saudi delegation to make sure that if any Bangladeshi woman migrant worker escapes from her abusive employer, she has to be sent to the Bangladesh embassy, not back to her employer," he said.
There were cases that when abused female workers approached police, they were sent back to their employers. In such cases, these migrants faced even more abuses, the official pointed out.
Dhaka will also request Riyadh to ensure that all Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia come under insurance coverage. It is important because if a migrant worker is injured in an accident, he or she becomes vulnerable, added the official.
According to officials of the ERD and the foreign ministry, relations between the two countries have deepened in the recent years. Riyadh is keen to invest more in various sectors including energy, power, infrastructure, communication networks, high tech parks, IT, textiles and agro-based industries.
During her visit to the Kingdom in October 2018, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged Saudi entrepreneurs and businessmen to invest in Special Economic Zones in Bangladesh.
A ministerial-level delegation from Saudi Arabia visited Bangladesh on March 7 last year to explore business and investment opportunities here.
Seeking anonymity, an official of the foreign affairs ministry said, "Saudi Arabia is interested in a number of major projects… Issues related to the projects will feature prominently at the joint commission meeting."
The Bangladesh team is comprised of officials from the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, commerce, expatriates' welfare, home affairs, agriculture, power and energy, education, ICT, agriculture and fisheries.