Malaysia to accept Bangladesh workers

Malaysia to accept Bangladesh 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
said in an interview.

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.

Mannan said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina persuaded
her Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohammad to review his
government's overseas labor recruitment policy and resume
employment of Bangladeshi workers.