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Govt to gear up migrant workers

PORIMOI. Palma
The government is about to strengthen the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry to explore new markets for overseas jobseekers and better train them to find employment abroad.
The labour wings of Bangladesh missions abroad will also be strengthened with more staff, while a market research cell will be formed with officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, finance and labour in coordination with the expatriates' ministry, officials said.
The initiatives arc being taken at a time when overseas employment is declining and thousands of Bangladeshi migrants have lost their jobsdue to global recession.
From January 1 to May 30 last year, 3.78 lakh workers went abroad for jobs, while only 2.12 lakh went in the same period this year. Last year, nine lakh workers migrated abroad, but businesses predict the numbers will fall to five lakh this year.
The major job market, Saudi Arabia, partially stopped issuing work visas to Bangladeshis, while Kuwait has not been hiring workers for around three years. Recently, Malaysia also cancelled work visas of 55,000 workers.
An estimated 60 lakh Bangladeshi expatriates send around $9 billion annually, which is the highest foreign exchange earning source in real terms. But experts say the sector has not received adequate attention.
Expatriates' Welfare Minister Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, however, said the government is going to pay special attention to this sector.
We are going to propose to the prime minister to declare overseas employment as a thrust sector," the minister toldThe Daily Star.
Officials at the expatriates' ministry said the establishment ministry has already approved the appointment of 12 officials for the ministry.
The post of one joint secretary, three deputy secretaries, six senior assistant secretaries, one deputy chief, one assistant chief will be filled up as soon as the finance ministry approves, they said.
Presently in the ministry, there is one joint secretary, two deputy secretaries and six senior assistant secretaries. The number of staff is inadequate to deal with the recruitment of workers overseas.
"The ministry can hardly do research to explore new markets or respond to the problems of the migrants as it is understaffed," said an official of the ministry.
He said manpower in the labour wings of Bangladesh missions would also be increased. There are 48 personnel in 12 labour wings and the ministry proposes to increase the number to 60, he added.
Besides, the government plans to open Bangladesh missions in Jordan, Iraq, Sudan and in an East European country, which demand foreign workers.
"We cannot fully depend on the traditional job markets, because they may not always hire our workers. So, we are looking for new markets, but this needs a research cell,” said a high official.
The cell will keep a lookout on demand for labour across the world and will suggest measures accordingly. It will also suggest the type of training required by the employers, he said.
In the budget for fiscal 2009-10, the government proposedTk 124.8570 crore for revenue budget, Tk 3.58 crore for development budget and Tk 70 crore as block allocation for the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry.