Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen today asked Bangladesh envoys in nine Middle East (ME) countries for searching alternative manpower market for Bangladeshi workers especially in agriculture sector of those oil rich nations.
He said Bangladesh’s skilled agro-labourer can work competently in agriculture of different countries including in the Middle East to fulfill the food demand during post COVID-19 pandemic period.
The foreign minister gave the directives at a videoconference with Bangladesh Ambassadors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Oman.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin also joined the virtual meeting.
The foreign minister asked the envoys to put all diplomatic efforts in job retention of expatriate Bangladeshi workers and also instructed them to ensure getting salaries and allowances if any worker returns to Bangladesh from their respected host countries.
Terming the Bangladeshi expatriate workers as remittance-warrior, Momen also asked the Bangladesh missions to continue their efforts in providing food assistance to the expatriate workers there.
Under the directives of the foreign ministry, Bangladesh missions abroad have already established ‘hotline numbers’ and many missions formed ‘pool of doctors’ to provide online medical advice to the expatriate Bangladeshis.
The missions distributed food and necessary items among the Bangladesh community living in different countries, particularly in the Middle East with the allocated funds disbursed by foreign ministry in coordination with expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry.BSS
 countries for searching alternative manpower market for Bangladeshi w){kind=link}