UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Bangladeshi expatriate community in United Arab Emirates (UAE) organized a reception program for the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at St Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi at 5:30pm on Sunday (local time).

The premier Sheikh Hasina said that Bangladeshi expatriates had been living with reputation across the world but later the achievement got slightly faded away for some negative incidents and Bangladeshi expatriates were responsible for that.

She said that her incumbent government took several initiatives for expatriates. It includes a declaration of special economic zone for safe investment of the expatriates.

An expatriates’ welfare bank was established, she mentioned.

Bangladesh government also received Saudi government’s certificate for improving hajj management, PM added.

The Prime Minister said that they have been working on the expatriates’ demand of voting rights.

In her half-an-hour long speech, the premier further said that Bangladesh will attain the status of middle income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041.

The current foreign exchange reserve in Bangladesh has reached to 22 billions UDS, she stated.

Regarding her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s initiatives on ‘digitization’, the PM said that people of the country are getting benefits from the use of technology.

It is our achievement, she commented.

With Muhammad Imran, Bangladesh Ambassador to UAE in the chair, Bangladesh community leader, also Abu Dhabi Bangabandhu Parisad president Iftekhar Hossain Babul, president of Bangladesh Business Council Dubai Mahtabur Rahman Nasir and Sheikh Zayed University professor Dr Habibullah Khandakar delivered speeches in the program.

Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Foreign Affairs Minister AH Mahmood Ali, State Minister for Labour and Manpower Mujibul Haque, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and senior secretary of the Prime Minister Office Abul Kalam Azad were present, among others, in the meeting.

However, the Bangladesh community felt anguished as the premier did not remark on visa issue.

Earlier at 4:00pm on the day, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in Abu Dhabi between the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) of Bangladesh and Amala, the government authorized manpower recruiting company formed through the Social Security Fund of the UAE home ministry.

Under the MoU, UAE will hire the Bangladeshi females for domestic works.

BMET director general Shamsun Nahar and Chairman of Amala group Dr Humaid Mohammed Al Muhiri signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides.

BDST: 1420 HRS, OCT 27, 2014

**UAE to recruit 2000 women workers every month