RIYADH: In a latest development, Saudi Arabia is going to recruit Bangladeshi workers soon at last after a 2008 ban that prohibited laborers from being brought in from that country.
 
The disclosure came after a one-hour meeting between Labor Minister Adel Fakeih and Bangladesh Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Khandker Mosharraf Hossain here on Sunday.

On Monday, Fakeih said that the Kingdom would soon resume the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers  to the Kingdom.

Following the meeting, Fakeih expressed optimism about the improvement and development of the relationship between the two ministries.

Pointing out that he was mainly interested in hiring skilled manpower from Dhaka, he stressed the need to find appropriate procedures and mechanisms in the deployment of the Bangladeshi work force in the Kingdom which would benefit the people of both countries.

He emphasized that there was a strong need to improve the efficiency and quality of foreign manpower deployed in the Kingdom which would eventually contribute to the development of the nation.

Fakeih also stressed that prospective workers to the Kingdom should undergo orientation programs back home in addition to proper skills tests in their respective vocations in the Kingdom.

Hossain said that Fakeih expressed Saudi Arabia’s readiness to open up the local labor market for Bangladeshi workers soon.

BDST: 1548 HRS, JAN 21, 2015