Key Meeting Today on Reopening of Malaysia's Labor Market

Bangladesh

Key Meeting Today on Reopening of Malaysia's Labor Market

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The Malaysian labor market is likely to reopen after a year of closure. A bilateral meeting is being held between Bangladesh and Malaysia for this purpose.

The meeting will be held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Thursday (May 15). A three-member delegation led by Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Advisor Professor Asif Nazrul arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday (May 13) to participate in it. The other two members of the delegation are the ministry's Senior Secretary Neamat Ullah Bhuiyan and Deputy Secretary Md. Sarwar Alam.

Officials of the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment said that after the meeting, new workers may start being sent to Malaysia under the existing MoU. The main topic of discussion will be the process of opening the labor market and finalizing the related rules and regulations.

The method of sending workers will be discussed in detail in the next meeting of the joint technical committee formed by the two countries. This time, Bangladesh will propose to include all legal recruiting agencies. However, according to the current MoU, the Malaysian government has the power to select agencies, which is valid until December. As a result, even if there is no scope for a new agreement, a partial change to the existing agreement will be proposed.

Malaysia previously recruited workers from 14 countries. However, in early 2024, the country closed its labor market to all countries, including Bangladesh. At that time, allegations of irregularities and fraud in the recruitment process emerged.

Malaysia is currently the second largest labor market for Bangladesh. Since the new government took office, initiatives have been taken to reopen the market and letters have been sent to Malaysia several times to convene a joint technical committee meeting. Finally, Malaysia agreed to the meeting proposal last month.

In addition, a letter sent by the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare stated that Malaysia has agreed to organize a joint technical committee meeting in Dhaka on May 21 and 22.

From 2004 to May 2024, about 1.3 million Bangladeshi workers have gone to Malaysia. Of these, the highest number of workers, about 3.5 million, were sent in 2023.