KL to resume taking workers

KL to resume taking workers

DHAKA (Reuters): Malaysia is expected to resume taking in
Bangladeshi workers next month after restricting foreign workers
for nearly two years because of its economic crisis, Bangladesh's
labor minister said on Monday.

"Malaysia will hopefully start providing jobs to our workers
from next month," Minister for Labor and Manpower M.A. Mannan
told Reuters in an interview.

"The workers will be given training before going to that
country."

Malaysia stopped recruiting manpower from Bangladesh and other
Asian countries in 1997 and declared 150,000 out of 300,000
Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia to be illegal.

"We will send 1,500 skilled workers in the first phase next
month and the number will increase gradually," Mannan said.

He said 150,000 illegal Bangladeshi workers, employed mostly
in Malaysia's construction sector, factories, plantations and
hotels, were eventually legalized in 1997 and 1998.