DHAKA - Bangladesh says Malaysia plans to take about 200,000 Bangladeshi workers over six months, with deployments beginning in phases by the end of September.
State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam disclosed the plan on Aug. 30 after Malaysian High Commissioner Mohd Shuhada Othman met Local Government Minister Abdul Moyeen Khan at the Secretariat.
Shahe Alam said Malaysia would take about 200,000 Bangladeshi workers over the next six months. He attributed the late-September deployment timetable to the Malaysian high commissioner.
The timetable moves beyond an earlier Bangladeshi target for workers to begin travelling in the last week of August. Prime Minister’s Adviser and spokesperson Mahdi Amin had described that timing in July as a “realistic target” for reopening the labour corridor.
The recruitment network has since widened. Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment said Malaysia directly selected 25 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies and allowed another 312 to operate as associates.
State-owned Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited, or BOESL, will also participate, bringing the number of participating recruitment entities to 338.
A zero-cost programme covering 10,000 Bangladeshi workers is also planned. An Aug. 28 ministry announcement said the workers would travel through BOESL without paying airfare or other migration-related costs, with the first group expected to use chartered flights.
The ministry also warned prospective workers not to make payments, undergo medical examinations or submit passports before formal instructions are issued.
The wider plan follows months of negotiations over recruitment costs and intermediaries. Malaysia and Bangladesh had agreed to pursue a fairer and more transparent labour migration system, including efforts to lower recruitment costs and reduce reliance on middlemen.
In June, both governments again committed to transparent, fair, non-discriminatory and competitive recruitment through qualified agencies in their joint statement on labour cooperation.
Shahe Alam said the next step was now the phased movement of workers: “The manpower export from Bangladesh will start in phases by the end of September and will be completed within the next six months.”
