Bilateral relations looking up

AT a press briefing at Gono Bhaban yesterday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, among other issues, told journalists that her recent trip to Malaysia aimed to infuse dynamism into the existing bilateral relations between the two countries.

The visit was clearly a success as it marked the inking of four deals that included signing of Memorandums of Understanding in the field of tourism, abolition of visa requirements, cultural exchanges, and the most important of all, employment of workers. Malaysia remains a major employer of Bangladeshi expatriate workers. With nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis engaged in various productive sectors of Malaysia, the country constitutes a major overseas labour destination for us.

The latest deal will oversee Malaysia absorbing some 12,000 of our workers in Sarawak province in the plantation sector. Given that this is going to be the first tranche of workers going to work under the government-to-government deal, its importance cannot be overstated. Needless to say that a lot is riding on how we are able to process the documentation of workers slated to join the first batch of labourers going to Sarawak. Should everything go smoothly, Malaysia has shown an interest to induct, in phases, up to 60,000 workers.

It is interesting to see that the deal has finally gotten off the ground. We have experienced some “teething” problems since, until very recently, the recruiting business had been entirely dominated by the private sector. Given the horrendous tales of irregularities practiced by a section of the recruiting sector, it is imperative that required resources and investments are made in the government recruiting agencies handling these state-to-state manpower agreements. A success in the Malaysian deal can be replicated to open up other high value labour export markets.