KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Bangladesh today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to receive 1.5 million workers in stages over the next three years.
According to the Daily Star, this deal was signed under the government-to-government (G2G) Plus System today at 10am (12pm Malaysian time).
The memorandum was signed between Bangladesh Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam and Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem at Dhaka's Expatriates Welfare office.
Under the deal, the levy for Bangladeshi workers has been fixed at RM1,946 (between Tk 34,000 and Tk37,000).
The news portal also said that the recruiters for these workers would bear other costs of the workers for travelling.
An official was quoted as saying that the new scheme between the governments would be more transparent and free from the intervention of mediators.
Female workers would also be able to join the workforce that will sent to Malaysia in stages under the proposed agreement.
It was learnt that Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agency would be allowed to take part partially in the process of sending Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia under the agreement.
Earlier on February 8, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had given the green light to draft the agreement as Malaysia had shown interest to recruit some 1.5 million workers over a period of three years.
Once the proposed deal came into effect, the previous deal signed for 2012 to 2014 would be scrapped as well.
Only 10,000 Bangladeshi workers were sent to the nation under the previous G@G agreement and there are currently 600,000 Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.