Manpower, trade key issues in Malaysia visit

Bangladesh will stress manpower export and trade gap reduction during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s official visit to Malaysia, beginning Tuesday.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 1 Dec 2014, 01:13 PM
Updated : 1 Dec 2014, 04:36 PM

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said while briefing journalists on Monday about the visit said four instruments would be signed during her three-day visit including agreements and MoUs.

‘Protocol Amending the MoU of 2012 between Malaysia and Bangladesh on the Employment of Workers’ was being seen as a major one, as it would allow Malaysia to recruit more Bangladeshis even outside its mainland.

It is expected to allow the entry of at least 12,000 Bangladeshi workers to the Sarawak state once the protocol is signed.

Hasina will leave for Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday on a regular Bangladesh Biman flight at about 10am.

The tour, first after her return to power for the second successive term, comes just over a year after her counterpart, Najib Razak, visited Dhaka.
Razak unveiled the plaque of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Memorial KPJ Specialised Hospital and Nursing College in Gazipur in November last year and invited Hasina to visit Malaysia.
The Prime Minister will lead a 30-member delegation comprising the foreign minister, expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister, civil aviation and tourism minister, cultural affairs minister, and state minister for home.
She will attend a dialogue on investment and trade opportunities in Bangladesh on Wednesday where major Malaysian investors are expected to take part.
The official bilateral talks between the leaders will take place at the Prime Minister’s office in Putrajaya followed by the signing ceremony.
The other signings include two separate MoUs on cooperation in the field of tourism, and culture, arts and heritage.
An agreement on the ‘partial abolition of visa requirements’ will also be signed.
Bangladesh is Malaysia’s third largest trading partner in South Asia after India and Pakistan.
But Malaysia, which aims to be a developed nation by 2020, a year before Bangladesh aspired to become a middle-income country, heavily dominates the two-way trade.
Bangladesh exports only $135 million worth of clothes and knitwear products in the more than $2 billion two-way trade. It imports mostly palm oil and animal products.
Replying a question, the foreign minister said they would discuss how to reduce the huge trade gap.
He said in the bilateral meeting the leaders would discuss ways to strengthen ties in the areas of trade, tourism, culture, human resource development, higher education apart from regional and international issues of interest.
Malaysia is one of Bangladesh’s major manpower destinations.
The government sends workers to the plantation sector through its own mechanism and expects to open the door for exporting manpower for the service and construction sectors.
At least 103, companies are currently investing in Bangladesh, mostly in the service and engineering sectors.
The government will try to attract them to the infrastructure, energy and telecommunication sectors, among others, during the visit.