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No war scar on manpower export to Middle East

RAFIQ HASAN
Manpower export to the Middle East has remained unaffected since the US-led war on Iraq began on March 20.
Manpower export to all the Middle Eastern countries continues and 450 people went to Kuwait for employment after the war began, according to sources in the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment. Few Bangladeshis went to Iraq for job since the Gulf war in 1991, the sources said.
The sources further said a total of 20,902 people went to different countries in the Middle East during the month of March this year, which is 25 per cent higher than the number of people (15,794) going to the region during the corresponding period last year.
The minister for expatriate welfare Quamrul Islam said the flow of remittance earning from those countries also remained unaffected.
He, however, could not give the actual figure of the remittance earning in the just concluded month. "It would take another few days to get the actual picture of remittance earning during the month," the minister said.
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But an earlier report showed a 50 per cent growth in remittance earning during the year 2002 compared to 2001.The earning was 17,320 crore in 2002 against Tk 11,580 crore in 2001.
More than 50 per cent remittance came from Saudi Arabia followed by Kuwait and Qatar.
Meanwhile, a total of 1965 Bangladeshi workers came back home from Kuwait since the war broke out. Among them, only 74 persons took government help in reaching their destinations.
The sources said only a few people including some family members of the expatriates are coming back home due to war. Most of the returnees came for spending holidays and some people did not return to take the opportunity of an amnesty by the Kuwaiti government to those who were staying there without legal documents.
The government formed a task force headed by the minister and it is regularly monitoring the situation. The task force held a number of meetings and took all preparatory measures in case a massive repatriation is needed, according to sources.
According to the decision, the affected Bangladeshi workers would be gathered in Saudi Arabia and flown back home from there. The Hajj camp near Zia International airport was also kept ready for giving temporary shelter to the returnees after arrival.
The government will also bear the transport costs of the returnees in reaching their respective destinations. Special coupons are being distributed among them for travelling by bus, train, launch and steamers.
The International Organisation for Migrants (IOM), a UN body, agreed to provide chartered planes for repatriation of Bangladeshis.
Responding to the government's appeal, the IOM got prepared for repatriating at least 30,000 Bangladeshis from the Middle East.
Earlier, the government estimated that it might have been necessary to repatriate around two lakh people from the Middle East if the war spreads beyond Iraq.
Observing the latest developments, the government thinks that only the Bangladeshis living in Kuwait (1.60 lakh) may have to be repatriated in case of emergency.