Saudi Arabia to recruit more workers from Bangladesh

Saudi Arabia wants to recruit more manpower from Bangladesh than what it used to every year before the 2008 ban.

Saudi Deputy Minister of Labour for International Affairs Ahmad Bin Fahad Al Fuhaid expressed the interest when he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday at Ganabhaban.

After the meeting, Hasina’s Press Secretary AKM Shamim Chowdhury told reporters that the Saudi deputy minister conveyed his country’s desire to hire more workers from Bangladesh.

Ahmad Bin Fahad said Bangladeshi workers were very hard-working and faithful and they were contributing greatly to Saudi economy.

He also told the prime minister that the manpower recruitment costs and process would be handled by private agencies.

Hasina told him that Bangladesh would send workers after training them on Saudi language, laws and manners.

Both of them had expressed satisfaction over the bilateral relations.

The kingdom lifted a seven-year ban on hiring Bangladeshi workers last month.

It recruited about 150,000 Bangladeshis each year until 2008, according to that country’s Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.

Following the ban on hiring of workers in housing and agricultural sectors, the annual average of recruitment from Bangladesh plummeted to around 10,000.

According to official figures, about 1.3 million Bangladeshis now work in Saudi Arabia, making the oil-rich kingdom the largest manpower market for Bangladesh.