Govt to tap new manpower market

Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday unveiled a seven-point strategy to explore new manpower markets and expand the existing ones as the expatriate workers pump huge remittances into the country.
Some 4,75,000 Bangladeshi workers sent home US$ 5.31 billion in last 10 months, a rise of about 20 percentage points on last year.
Iftekhar, who also heads the expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry, told a press briefing that the government is considering if the remittance could be invested in the banking sector or in the special economic zones for better returns.
He said the administration has taken initiatives to explore new labour markets in Norway, Sweden, Russia, Romania, Poland and Canada.
The adviser, fresh from a visit to Norway and Sweden, said Norway requires engineers with good command over English while Stockholm is enacting new legislation to recruit workforce from outside Europe.
Besides, the adviser said, the European Union is introducing a Blue Card system to recruit skilled manpower in view of the greying population and falling birth rates there.
He noted that Eastern European countries like Romania and Poland also hold good prospects for the Bangladeshi workers as people there are rushing to Western Europe for better employment.
Iftekhar said the government has started correspondence with Moscow for sending Bangladeshi manpower to Russia.
About expanding the existing markets, he said the issue will be discussed when ministers from Oman and Qatar visit Dhaka, adding that some 15,000 to 20,000 workers are going to the UAE every month where more than 6,00,000 Bangladeshi workers are already employed.
Iftekhar said Libya has also expressed a desire to take some 2,000 workers from Bangladesh.
Besides sending workers abroad, the government is focusing on streamlining immigration to avoid the plight and deprivation of the workers, he said.
On the rampant incidents of fraudulence the expatriate workers are regularly subject to, the adviser said strict monitoring system would be introduced so they do not face any deception, adding that the government will call in assistance from the task force and other law enforcement agencies in this respect.