Saudi Arabia lifts ban on the recruitment of Bangladesh workers

DHAKA, Aug. 11 (NsNewsWire) — The Ministry of Labor and Social Development of Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on the recruitment of Bangladesh workers as of Wednesday, 10 August 2016. The ban had been in force for the past seven years except for the domestic service workers.

The opening of the recruitment is indeed the culmination of unremitting efforts of Bangladesh. It was high on agenda during the visit of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to KSA in June 2016. Certainly her fruitful meeting with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud greatly contributed into the outcome.

The people and the Government of Bangladesh express their deep gratitude to King Salman for this generous gesture towards Bangladesh and for his continued support to the country. Currently, there are about 1.3 million Bangladesh workers in the Kingdom including around 60,000 housemaids.

The new decision would pave the way to build up strong economic ties between the two brotherly countries for mutual benefits. With the lift, now, all categories of workers including skilled and semi skilled as well as professionals such as doctors, engineers, teachers and nurses from Bangladesh could be recruited for working in Saudi Arabia.

The Prime Minister during her visit to the Kingdom urged Saudi investors to invest in Bangladesh including in the skill-development training-centers and certification and assured them of all out support and co-operation. By now the Saudi investors has entered into agreement with BMET for 4-training centers in Dhaka, Chittagong, Manikganj and Mymensingh.