Greece signs MoU to recruit 4,000 Bangladeshi workers each year

Bangladesh and Greece today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will see 4,000 Bangladeshi workers migrating to the European Union country each year in a regular and orderly manner.

Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad and his Greek counterpart Migration and Asylum Minister Panagiotis A Mitarakis signed the deal on behalf of their respective countries during a ceremony at Prabashi Kalyan Bhaban in the capital.

The new deal is expected to see a decline in illegal migration and trafficking of Bangladeshis to Greece.

Bangladeshis often risk perishing in the sea to reach Greece and several other European countries by boat through the Mediterranean Sea. But many end up in detentions.

Under the MoU, Greece will create employment for 4,000 new Bangladeshi workers each year by providing them temporary work permits for five years, the expatriates' welfare ministry said in a press release.

Under the deal, workers will be hired in the seasonal category for the agriculture sector. Later, both countries will increase the number of sectors based on demand and following discussion, it said.

The workers will have to return home after the end of the job contract. However, they will be able to migrate again for employment, the release added.

While applying for a job, Bangladeshi workers have to submit valid travel documents, work contracts, health insurance and pay necessary fee, it further said.

The MoU will be placed in the Greece parliament for approval soon, said the release.

In a joint press briefing, Expatriates' Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad told the reporters that employers in Greece will directly recruit workers from Bangladesh.

"There will be nobody in between," he said, adding Bangladesh government will try to facilitate the recruitment under its existing process.

"No outside agent will come into this," he added.

The minister also said technical teams of both countries will hold a meeting to finalise the recruitment process.

Following the new agreement, Bangladesh is expecting that undocumented Bangladeshi workers who are currently living in Greece will undergo a regularisation process, he also said.

Greek Minister Mitarakis, who reached Dhaka yesterday on a two-day visit, hoped the new deal will effectively support legal migration.

"When I sit in the council of the European Union with the other colleagues of mine…it has been a joint position in the last few years that we would like to support legal migration," he said.

"So, this is what we agreed today," he added.

Secretary of the expatriates' welfare ministry Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said following the agreement, Greece will provide temporary residence permits for five years to about 15,000 Bangladeshi workers currently living in Greece.

The secretary also said employers in Greece are likely to bear the migration cost.

Currently, Greece is home to an estimated 30,000 Bangladeshis, many of whom are undocumented and asylum-seekers, according to the Bangladesh embassy in Athens.