No UAE job market breakthrough

There has been no breakthrough during the just concluded visit of the Prime Minister to the United Arab Emirates, regarding the rich Gulf nation reopening  its job market to Bangladeshi workers.

The UAE labour market has remained shut for Bangladeshis since October, 2012, owing to issues concerning fake travel documents, forged passports, and law and order. All efforts the government has taken to address the issues so far, appear to have failed to satisfy the UAE, which is the second largest source of remittances for Bangladesh.

During the prime minister’s visit to Abu Dhabi, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen raised the issue with his UAE counterpart, only to hear that the issue will be considered.    

In the Tuesday meeting with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the UAE, Dr Momen urged the UAE to   officially declare the opening of all sectors of recruitment for Bangladesh nationals in the UAE, according to a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

The UAE foreign minister assured Dr Momen that his country will consider the proposal, according to the press release.

Dr Momen told his counterpart that in order to achieve the Bangladesh government’s vision, it relies on the active cooperation and assistance of friendly countries like the UAE.

He also spoke about the different positive aspects of the country in various sectors.

FM thanks UAE for supporting Bangladesh on Rohingya issue

The foreign minister also informed the UAE minister about the stalled situation with displaced Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh. He conveyed thanks to the UAE for supporting Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue in various forums. He called for UAE’s continued support in the crisis.

The UAE foreign minister commended the large participation of Bangladesh IT professionals in the outsourcing sector and enquired about the Bangladesh government’s future development strategy.

In response, Dr Momen said that the government has taken initiatives to establish 100 economic zones, 28 hi-tech parks and related infrastructure, a good number of which have already been developed. 

He also said that Bangladesh would like to participate in Dubai Expo 2020 on a large scale.

The UAE foreign minister assured that their side would try to ensure a greater Bangladesh presence at the Expo.

At the end of the meeting, both ministers signed an Agreement on Allotment of land to the Bangladesh Embassy in the diplomatic enclave of Abu Dhabi in reciprocity to allotment of land for the UAE Embassy in Dhaka.