Didn't they deport them the last time around? Saudi Arabia to resume hiring of Bangladeshi workers

 The manpower market of Saudi Arabia is open again for Bangladeshi workers starting Sunday (Feb. 1), a statement issued by the Embassy of Bangladesh in Riyadh yesterday said.

The news of the opening was conveyed to Md. Shahidul Islam, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by Dr. Ahmed F. Alfahaid, Deputy Minister for International Affairs of the Ministry of Labor, Saudi Arabia over telephone on the same day.

Alfahaid said the approval from the Royal Court has been received Sunday. The Saudi deputy minister also informed that a high level Saudi delegation comprising representatives from the concerned ministries of Saudi Arabia is expected to visit Bangladesh probably in a week to formulate modalities of the recruitment.

Due to the uninterrupted diplomatic efforts of the Government of Bangladesh, which was commenced by the official visit of the  Prime Minister of Bangladesh Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in April 2009, the long awaited Saudi labor market for Bangladeshi workers, which had been stopped in 2008,  resumed.

Saudi Labor Minister Engr. Adel bin Muhammad Fakeih expressed his country’s readiness to open up the Saudi labor market for Bangladeshi workers shortly during a bilateral meeting with the Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment of Bangladesh Engr. Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, MP, last Jan. 19.

The Saudi labor minister also expressed his country’s desire for close cooperation in the area of human resources with Bangladesh during the meeting.

The reopening up of the Saudi labor market for Bangladesh workforce will provide enormous potential for the employment of professionals, skilled, semi-skilled and un-skilled manpower in various sectors of Saudi Arabia.