Arafat Ara

Bahrain will recruit Bangladeshi workers under state arrangement to curb middleman system, and ensure lower migration cost as well as workers’ safety, said a top official of the country.

Ausamah Bin Abdulla Al-Absi, chief executive officer (CEO) of Labour Market Regulatory Authority in Bahrain, said they want to eliminate workers’ exploitation in the country at any cost.

“So we will not take assistance of private recruitment agencies to hire manpower from Bangladesh. We will recruit manpower from here through a single government agency,” he said after a meeting with officials of the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL).

Due to high migration cost, sometimes the foreign workers engage themselves in various illegal activities, and even commit suicide.

“If the workers can go to their job destinations at a low cost, they will refrain from committing all types of uneven occurrences,” he added.

The three-member Bahraini delegation, led by Mr Al-Absi, has come to Bangladesh on a three-day visit to settle workers’ recruitment process.

They have already observed BOESL’s labour-sending process, and expressed satisfaction over the process.

The delegation will sit with the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment minister today (Monday) for holding final discussion in this connection.

The chief of the Bahraini team said the middle-eastern country needs plenty of workers for its various sectors.

“We are giving the utmost priority to recruit Bangladeshi workers for the country’s cultural and economic development. We will try to reduce their migration cost as much as possible,” he added.

He, however, said Bahrain is very much conscious about foreign workers’ rights, and has started discussing the issue with the labour-sending countries.

BOESL Managing Director Helal Uddin Ahmed said the Bahraini delegation has shown interest in recruiting Bangladeshi manpower for its health, construction, apparel and house-keeping sectors.

Mr Ahmed said they are now sending female workers to the nation, and migration cost for each female garment worker is Tk 10,000.

A total of 231,374 Bangladeshis went to Bahrain from 1976 to February 2013, of whom only 1,602 people went through BOESL.