Going to Malaysia for Work
Cost should not exceed Tk 80,000
Says expatriates' welfare minister
Migrant workers' travelling cost through the government's legal channels to Malaysia should range from Tk 75,000 to Tk 80,000, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, minister of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, said yesterday.
He was speaking at the launch of an information campaign programme "Shabdhaner Mar Nai" to create awareness on safe migration. The campaign is also aimed at spreading information about legal ways to travel abroad among prospective migrant workers from Bangladesh.
Recently, Malaysia has announced that it will hire workers from Bangladesh, the minister said, adding that it was unfortunate that potential workers who did not know this information would fall victim to unscrupulous middle-men who would promise to help them migrate for large sums of money ranging from Tk 2 lakh to Tk 3 lakh.
Migrant workers, especially women, fall victims to fraud brokers and unscrupulous recruiters because they are unaware of the legal procedures to migrate abroad, the speakers said.
The awareness campaign will be carried out through radio, television and newspapers, and a door to door awareness programme will also be conducted in Manikganj since a large number of women workers go abroad from there.
The minister said many developed countries had extremely low birth rates, in some cases negative. These countries with aging populations have a decreasing young and productive population, he said.
In contrast, South Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries, including Bangladesh, have a growing young population who could migrate to those developed countries to support the growth of the economy, he added.
"It is noteworthy that we have about 26 lakh migrant workers in Saudi Arabia presently, 15 lakh in the UAE and about 2 lakh workers each in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. This huge population of migrant workers sends home a large amount of remittance which shapes the balance of payment of Bangladesh's economy," the minister said.
Information Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon and Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan also spoke on the occasion.
The event was organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) with Asiatic Marketing Communications taking part in coordination and supervision.
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