Dhaka inks deal to send workers to KSA

Dhaka and Riyadh signed a deal this evening to resume recruitment from Bangladesh on a gradual basis, beginning with domestic helps and drivers.

The deal was struck around 7:00pm, on the last day of the visit by a powerful Saudi delegation led by Dr Ahmed Al Fahaid, deputy minister for international affairs of the Kingdom's labour ministry.

"We issued around 1.3 million new visas last year for recruiting foreign workers…we need the same figure of workers. So, there are huge opportunities of employment of Bangladeshi people," said the Saudi minister after a meeting with the Bangladesh delegation in Dhaka yesterday.

Presently, most of the country's remittance comes from Saudi Arabia, home to more than 15 lakh Bangladeshis. In 2013-2014, Bangladeshi workers in the KSA sent $3.12 billion in remittance to the country.

Bangladesh can earn $1.5 billion more a year if it can send another 10 lakh workers.

On February 1, the Saudi government announced that it would hire workers from Bangladesh again, after a six-year ban since 2008 over anomalies in recruitment process.