DHAKA: Bangladesh is preparing to send more skilled workers to Saudi Arabia, authorities said on Tuesday, following the signing of a new recruitment agreement in Riyadh.
Around 3 million Bangladeshi nationals live and work in Saudi Arabia. They are the largest expat group in the Kingdom and the biggest community outside their country.
Bangladeshi citizens have been working in Saudi Arabia since the 1970s but until now their employment was regulated by memoranda on specific labor deployment.
The new pact, signed on Monday by the Kingdom’s Human Resources and Social Development Minister Ahmad bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi and Bangladesh’s Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Adviser Asif Nazrul, is the first such agreement for general worker recruitment.
“With this agreement, it is expected that the recruitment of skilled workers from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia across various professions will increase, and the rights and interests of both workers and employers will be better protected,” the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment said in a statement.
