Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury on February 14 said Malaysia has given approval for recruiting over one lakh workers from Bangladesh. He said the government has set up a coordination committee with officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, labour and employment, civil aviation, home and the Department of Passport and Immigration, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training, and Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd (BOESL) to resolve problems in sending skilled manpower abroad.

Of the 105,000 workers to be recruited, 26,000 workers received clearance from the Malaysian authorities and 18,000 have already left for Kuala Lumpur. The government has fixed Tk 85,000 for each worker who wants to work in Malaysia. Currently, around 300,000 Bangladeshi workers are employed in Malaysia. The Adviser said that Bangladesh earns remittance of more than $ 5 billion annually from the expatriate workers.