Bangladesh asks Malaysia to reconsider canceling visas for its jobseekers

 DHAKA, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladesh Thursday continued its efforts to request the Malaysian government to reconsider its decision on canceling visas for some 55,000 Bangladeshi jobseekers, the leading English-language newspaper The Daily Star reported on Friday. 

  Bangladesh's Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain Thursday wrote to the Malaysian home ministry, requesting it to reconsider the decision and recruit the workers in the sectors where more workers are needed, the newspaper said. 

  In the context of the ongoing global financial crisis, the Malaysian government Tuesday canceled visas for some 55,000 Bangladeshi jobseekers, who are due to enter the South East Asian country soon, officials said. 

  "Our ministry in collaboration with the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry has discussed the matter with the Malaysian authorities and I hope a meaningful decision will come soon," Foreign Minister Dipu Moni was quoted as saying. 

  "The government especially the high officials of foreign and other ministries concerned are ready to go to Malaysia to deal with the situation," Moni told reporters here on Thursday. 

  She said the foreign secretary had already talked to the Malaysian high commissioner in Dhaka and made a formal request to reconsider the decision. 

  Local reports said, In January, the Malaysian government slapped a ban on fresh recruitment of foreigners after a report forecast that 45,000 Malaysians were going to lose their jobs in the next few months. 

  Bangladesh's Finance Minister AMA Muhith earlier said, "It will have a negative impact on our economy." 

  Malaysia is one of the largest destinations for Bangladesh overseas jobseekers and also one of the key sources of remittances for Dhaka. According to the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, over 400,000 Bangladesh workers are working in the country. 

  Bangladesh received a record 92.44 million U.S. dollars remittances from Malaysia in 2007-2008 fiscal year (July 2007-June2008) against 11.8 million U.S. dollars in 2006-07 fiscal. 

  Remittance, sent mostly by the overseas workers, contributed to 12 percent of Bangladesh's GDP. 

  Bangladesh received about 9 billion U.S. dollars remittance in 2008 from more than 5.7 million Bangladeshis who were working and living abroad. 

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