Staff Correspondent
Manpower export is likely to fall significantly affecting country’s remittance earning this year due to global economic recession.
Talking to The Bangladesh Today, BAIRA President Ghulam Mustafa said “The manpower exporting sector sends abroad around eight lac people every year while the country earns $9 billion per annum. But the ratio of manpower export is likely to shrink affecting remittance due to global economic setback.”
The problem will be double when collapse in exporting new manpower is coupled with suffering of many existing overseas workers from non-availability of jobs in the host countries due to economic setback, he said.
He said it is necessary to ensure three things including increase in government level contact with host countries, activeness of foreign missions and timely visa processing by recruiting agents to protect manpower export sector from this setback.
“Government to government persuasion, sincerity of foreign missions and labour attaché and timely visa processing by the recruiting agencies can pave the way for solving this problem. If these steps are taken, the crisis will cease to exist after three to four months,” he said.
About 50 per cent overseas Bangladeshi workers being less skilled, 31 per cent skilled, 16 per cent semi skilled and 3 per cent professional, he said the government should be attentive in creating skilled manpower and sending those abroad to get significant amount of remittance and avoid untoward incidents in the host countries.
BAIRA Senior Vice President Mohammed Shamsuzzaman said country’s remittance earning has been already affected as manpower export to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Malaysia has totally stopped due to commission of unlawful activities by some unskilled workers there.
He said earlier there was a potential market for Bangladeshi workers in these countries but for some untoward incidents, this market has declined. Now it is the onus of the elected government to take initiative to resolve this problem.
Currently the countries where BD workers are going include South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Singapore, he said, adding “The elected government should expand overseas markets further and convince the countries which have shown the door to our workers.”
Courtesy: .thebangladeshtoday.com
