At the 30th SAARC Council of Ministers on Thursday night, Shahid spoke to Bangladeshi Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury about boosting numbers of trained Bangladeshis in the country, according to Asia Pulse.
But acting employment minister Abdul Rasheed Hussein told Minivan News there was no specific scheme in the pipeline to recruit more Bangladeshis, though fast economic growth could increase dependence on expatriate labour.
According to this month’s figures from the Ministry of Employment, 25,819 Bangladeshis are currently registered as employed in the Maldives.
The largest employer of Bangladeshis is construction, with 11,691 employed in the sector, according to the ministry. The next largest is tourism, with 3,729.
But police revealed in May that the Employment Ministry’s foreign workers database had been hacked and records falsified, leading to concerns over untracked illegal immigrants in the country.
Most Bangladeshis in the Maldives are unskilled workers, says acting employment minister Hussein. They are required to obtain employment before entering the country.
Hussein said there were no specific plans to recruit more skilled Bangladeshis, but said: “Our economy is growing very fast...Irrespective of nationality, if we need workers, skilled or unskilled, we will employ them.”
The introduction of a direct flight link between the two countries – Best Air’s Dhaka-Malé route, launched on 28 July – may boost numbers of Bangladeshis arriving, Hussein said.
At the SAARC Council of Ministers, foreign minister Shahid praised Bangladeshis’ contribution to the Maldives’ economy thus far.
According to Asia Pulse, Bangladeshi Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar said 37 Technical Training Centres in Bangladesh would train 49,000 Bangladeshis this year.
The Maldives’ tourism sector consists of 91 operating resorts, plus another 65 under construction.
Resorts are required to employ at least 50 per cent Maldivian workers, but many report difficulties in meeting the quota, despite high unemployment among Maldivian youth. Expatriates from other Asian countries tend to fill the gap.
Courtesy: Minivan News
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