Workers to be sent to Iraq under govt arrangements

Bangladesh has decided to send workers to Iraq under government arrangements to avoid malpractices in the overseas employment sector and end exploitation of labour.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain told journalists at his office in the Secretariat yesterday following a visit to Iraq recently.
“It was actually the Iraqi authorities who proposed that we must send workers through government arrangements,” he said. Once a system is developed, the task of sending workers to the Arab country could be left to the private sector, he said.
The cost of sending a worker to Iraq would be no more than Tk 30,000 provided the airfare is borne by the employers. The minimum salary would be $300, said Mosharraf.
Labour recruitment in Iraq has been closed for a year after its resumption late 2009.
Only around 2,000 workers went there through private agencies while there are around 12,000 Bangladeshis, most of whom went there by visit visas and facing various problems.
The labour recruitment to Iraq, once a good labour market of Bangladesh, stopped after Iraq war in 2003. Now, the country requires good number of foreign workers mainly in construction sector.
The delegation led by Mosharraf held discussions with Iraqi ministers of labour, social welfare, housing and construction, foreign affairs, and deputy prime minister.
Mosharraf said Bangladesh will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iraq and its autonomous province Kurdistan in a couple of months and the process of sending workers would start thereafter.
He, however, could not say about the number of foreign workers required by Iraq.
The job demands will be verified by the Iraqi government and Bangladesh mission there to ensure originality of jobs, he said.