ABU DHABI : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will appoint a labour attaché at its embassy in Dhaka from the beginning of the next year to simplify the procedure of recruiting manpower from Bangladesh.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdulla Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said this when he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Bilateral Meeting Room of St Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi Sunday afternoon.

Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali, State Minister for Labour and Manpower Md Mujibul Haque, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Senior Secretary of the PMO Md Abul Kalam Azad were present, among others, at the meeting.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali said the UAE's decision to appoint a labour attaché in Dhaka is a positive sign which would help increase manpower to the oil-rich Gulf nation.

He said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, and a wide range of issues were discussed.

Ali also said a joint statement will be issued after Sheikh Hasina's meeting with her UAE counterpart in Dubai tomorrow, where the outcome of the current tour of Bangladesh Premier would be included.

At the meeting, Ali said, the Prime Minister invited the UAE foreign minister to visit Bangladesh. Recalling his last tour of Bangladesh in 2009, the UAE FM said he would visit Bangladesh again.

PM's Media Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, PMO Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haq and Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhury were present at the briefing.
 
UNB adds : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is going to recruit 1,000 female workers in 14 areas, including housemaids, drivers, and gardeners, from Bangladesh in the first phase and more would be recruited later.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) of Bangladesh and professional labour recruiting agency (Amala) group of the UAE at the St Regis Hotel.

Director General of BMET Shamsun Nahar and Chairman of Amala group Humaid Mohammed Al Muhiri signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides.

With the signing of this MoU, female workers could be sent to the UAE through favourable terms and conditions so that the security of female workers could be ensured.

Amala is formed through the Social Security Fund of the Home Ministry of UAE.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is now in Abu Dhabi on a three-day official visit to the UAE aiming to further strengthen Bangladesh’s bilateral relations with the oil-rich Gulf nation and increase manpower export.


Agencies/LY