Malaysia to open up mining, more new areas to Bangladeshi workers

Malaysia will continue to take in more Bangladeshi workers by opening up new areas, its visiting secretary general for foreign affairs has said.

Mining will be one of them, Ramlan Ibrahim told Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Tuesday during a meeting.

Ibrahim is visiting Bangladesh in connection with the first bilateral consultations between the foreign ministries that took place on Monday. He briefed the foreign minister on the outcome of the consultations.

Ali termed Malaysia as one of the “trusted friends” and said an “excellent understanding and goodwill” is prevailing among the highest political level of the countries, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

In his view, this understanding can be utilised in more trade and investment for economic benefit of the two nations.

Both sides were happy about the recruitment process of Bangladeshi workforce in Malaysia under “G to G Plus” mechanism.

Ali stressed on the need for maintaining transparency in the system, and for the Southeast Asian state to continue hiring more workforce from Bangladesh.

Secretary General Ibrahim indicated that “they would continue to recruit more workforce from Bangladesh and would open up new areas like mining for Bangladeshi workers”.

He also expressed Malaysia’s readiness to engage in discussion on the possibility of establishing a Free Trade Area (FTA) between the two countries.

Ali agreed to consider it.

Both sides also agreed to ease visa for the genuine businessmen.