Sun news Desk: Bangladesh and Malaysia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the labor market. Malaysia's Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan and Bangladesh's Expatriate Welfare Minister Imran Ahmed signed the agreement in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday (December 19th).

Earlier, Minister Imran Ahmed arrived at the Malaysian airport today (December 19) at 5 am local time. Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia at the time MD. Golam Sarwar, Labor Councilor. Zahirul Islam, Labor Councilor (Second) MD. Hedayatul Islam Mandal and Malaysia Awami League and community leaders were present.

After a long hiatus of three years, Malaysia finally approved the recruitment of workers from Bangladesh on December 10. The country's cabinet approved hiring workers in all sectors.

The country will employ Bangladeshi workers, especially in the domestic, horticultural, agricultural, manufacturing, services, mining and quarrying and construction sectors. Once the agreement is signed, Bangladeshi workers in these sectors will be able to go to the country.

It is learned that this time the memorandum of understanding has changed a lot than before. Notably, the GTZ Plus method is not mentioned; Adding Malaysian recruiting agency; There is a compulsory insurance for employees; The employer will pay for the repatriation of workers and the cost; The Malaysian recruiting agency will also have to take responsibility for the employees during the contract period; The age has been fixed from 18 to 45 years.

Diplomatic sources say 10 recruiting agencies have repeatedly blocked efforts to open up the Malaysian labor market. It was shut down in September 2018 by a syndicate created by them in an attempt to illegally occupy the market.

At a meeting of a special committee chaired by the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the country stopped hiring Bangladeshi workers from September 1.