News Mania Desk /Piyal Chatterjee/4th October 2024
According to Dhaka officials, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on Friday for discussions that would mostly center on labor issues. This will be the first high-level visit by a foreign head of state since Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet resigned in August, and the Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration took over. Yunus is a Nobel Peace laureate.According to a Bangladesh foreign ministry official, Prime Minister Anwar and Yunus are scheduled to meet. A wide range of topics, including economic cooperation, political relations, trade and investment, education, technology, infrastructure development, and defense collaboration, will be on the agenda.
The official stated that as both nations look to further their collaboration in this sector, labor migration would be a major topic of discussion. Bangladesh is a key source of labour for Malaysia, particularly in areas such as construction, manufacturing, and agriculture.According to another official, the discussions are anticipated to cover issues concerning migrant workers, such as pay, working conditions, and controlling unauthorized labor, given that over a million Bangladeshi migrants are already employed in Malaysia.
Additionally, it’s expected that both countries will talk about how to better protect workers’ rights and expedite hiring procedures. The authorities of Malaysia and Bangladesh have been urged by the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting organizations (BAIRA) to destroy a syndicate of recruiting organizations that have supplied the majority of migrant labor in recent years.Concerns over the system’s fairness and openness have been raised after about 450,000 Bangladeshi laborers moved to Malaysia under the auspices of 101 recruiting firms from both nations since August 2022.
