Maldives wants more workers, products
Maldives Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gono Bhaban in the city yesterday. Photo: PID
The Maldives will allow duty-free access for Bangladeshi products, including medicine, from the end of this year. The island nation also agreed to import a large number of workers from Bangladesh. Visiting Maldivian Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem informed his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni about the Maldives withdrawing all import duties on Bangladeshi products during talks at the foreign ministry yesterday. The Maldives also agreed to improve trade and investment cooperation between the two South Asian countries and sought Bangladesh's cooperation in various fields, including health, education and the judiciary. After the talks the foreign ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding on "Placement of Bangladeshi Workers", which will facilitate Bangladeshi workers in the Maldives in sending remittance, and establish their rights and provide them other facilities. The MoU will also allow recruitment of more Bangladeshi workers, both skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled. The Maldives authorities have so far registered 12,000 out of 17,000 Bangladeshi workers living there and its labour ministry is trying to document the rest. Speaking at a joint press conference yesterday evening, the Maldivian foreign minister said his country would recruit a lot more skilled workers from Bangladesh including doctors and nurses. "We consider Bangladeshi workers as our development partners…they are part of the Maldives development," he said. Earlier, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said both nations identified the areas of cooperation. She said they discussed the possibilities of rerouting Bangladesh-bound flights from Europe through Male. She said the Maldives agreed to cooperate with Bangladesh to protect the corals of St Martin Island, no in danger.
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