Libya to hire thousands of Bangladeshis

DHAKA, Sunday

Libya will recruit thousands of workers from Bangladesh while the South Asian country is experiencing a decline in the number of its nationals leaving for overseas jobs amid the global economic recession.

The north African country will employ Bangladeshis as part of an infrastructure development plan worth more than $100 billion, which Tripoli has launched, Libyan Ambassador Ahmed Ateya Hamd Al-Imam said today.
A huge demand
The Libyan Embassy in Dhaka is issuing about 300 visas per day and that number will increase due to a huge demand for workers in the oil-rich country, the ambassador said in a meeting with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud.
“Libya has been reconstructing itself. Under the agreement, we would take in a huge number of workers in phases,” a Foreign ministry statement quoted him as saying.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest countries and depends heavily on remittances from expatriate workers, but host countries are facing problems with their own slowing economies.
Bangladesh earned about $8 billion in remittances in the fiscal year which ended in June 2008 and expected $10 billion in the current fiscal year.
Those hopes may be dented as demands for expatriate workers are falling, especially in Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries.
Malaysia recently cancelled visas for 55,000 Bangladeshis, the biggest number ever by a single employer. (Reuters)