Saudi Arabia wants to hire 500,000 workers from Bangladesh

Saudi Arabia wants to recruit 500,000 workers from Bangladesh, including doctors, engineers and teachers.

Reazul Basharfrom Jeddahbdnews24.com
Published : 6 June 2016, 03:43 PM
Updated : 6 June 2016, 09:36 PM

The kingdom’s Labour Minister Mufrej Al-Haqbani told Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of his country’s plans during a meeting at the Jeddah Conference Palace on Monday.

Saudi Arabia employs 1.2 million Bangladeshi workers, according to government data, making it Bangladesh’s largest manpower market.

“The Saudi minister said they wanted to hire another 500,000 workers,” said the prime minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim.

“He said Bangladeshi workers, including 42,000 women, have earned a reputation for their good work. Their goal was to hire doctors, engineers and teachers besides labourers.”

Both sides agreed that measures were needed to stop middlemen from exploiting those seeking jobs in the kingdom.

The Bangladesh government had initiated a short-duration course for women who travel abroad for employment, with plans to expand it in the future, Hasina told Haqbani.

She arrived in Jeddah on Friday evening on a five-day visit at the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The next day, she travelled with her entourage to Makkah to perform Umrah. On Sunday, she engaged in bilateral talks with King Salman

Saudi ministers for finance, foreign affairs, defence and other senior officials paid courtesy calls on the prime minister on the same day.

She also met Saudi intelligence chief Gen Khalid bin Ali bin Abdullah al-Humaidan.

She is now in Madinah, from where she will catch a flight from Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport on Tuesday to reach Dhaka in the evening.