Govt to form agreements with 7 countries to expand labour markets

The government has taken an initiative to expand alternative labour markets by signing bilateral agreements with seven European countries, said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Speaking during the question-answer session in parliament today (15 April), he said the move comes in the context of recent instability in the Middle East, including Iran, and that the government is working on a plan to diversify overseas employment opportunities.

The countries are Serbia, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, Portugal, Brazil and Russia. The government is also working to expand labour markets in other countries, added the prime minister.

Tarique said high-level visits have been arranged to strengthen bilateral relations with recruiting countries outside the Middle East.

“Bangladesh missions abroad have been instructed to explore labour markets and assess profession-based demand for Bangladeshi workers. Based on recommendations from the missions, local lobbyists or expert firms will be appointed where necessary,” he added.

He said efforts are ongoing to reopen the Malaysian labour market.

He added that initiatives have been taken to sign agreements with Thailand to open its labour market. As there is demand for Bangladeshi workers in Japan, steps have been taken to increase worker migration by expanding Japanese language and skills training.

Japanese language training is being provided in 53 Technical Training Centres. Steps have also been taken to recruit trainers for Japanese, Russian, Arabic, German and Italian languages. So far, 41 trainers in different languages have been appointed.