Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-The Saudi Arabian government on Sunday lifted the ban on recruiting manpower from Bangladesh.
Shamsun Nahar, director general of Bureau of Manpower and Employment (BMET) in Bangladesh, confirmed it to the BBN.
The KSA government imposed the ban on importing manpower from Bangladesh in 2008 alleging anomalies in the recruitment process.
“The Ministry of Labour in Saudi Arabia overturned the embargo on the recruitment of Bangladeshi manpower on Sunday and the officials from Bangladesh embassy to Riyadh endorsed the information to us,” Ms Nahar said.
The KSA labour ministry took the measure after a visit of Bangladesh Labour Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain to Saudi Arabia last week, she added.
The Kingdom also allowed private companies to hire nationals from Bangladesh, sources said.
During their recent talks, the Bangladesh minister and Saudi Labour Minister Adel Fakeih talked about the development of the recruitment system in the Kingdom.
Hossain also informed his Saudi counterpart about Bangladesh’s completion of all requirements set by the Saudi Ministry of Labour in this regard.
As part of the joint efforts, both sides stated that Bangladeshi workers would have certain levels of skills, labour culture and knowledge of labour laws prevailing in the Kingdom.
The kingdom recruited about 150,000 Bangladeshis each year until 2008, according to a statement of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
The oil-rich Kingdom which is the largest manpower market for Bangladesh, hire workers from Bangladesh to work mainly in housing and agricultural sectors.
According to the Bangladeshi official, the country has set up a center for manpower.
The center will streamline the recruitment process with Saudi Arabia, and has a database with nearly 2.2 million workers, which is currently used to send manpower to other countries such as Malaysia, South Korea and Hong Kong, Hossain said.
"A high level delegation comprising of representatives from the concerned Ministries of KSA is expected to visit Bangladesh shortly to discuss with concerned Bangladesh authorities to formulate modalities of the recruitment," a foreign ministry official said.
BBN/AS-1Feb15-4:00pm (BST)