Bali meet likely to approve migrants centre in Kuwait

Once established, the centre is expected to open a new era in protecting the rights of the migrant workers and promoting smooth migration.

The concerned countries will be able to exchange information on any issues regarding migrant workers through the centre, said an official of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), in the city yesterday.

The decision to set up the centre was taken at the second ALMMC in the Philippines last year.

State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Major (Retd) Quamrul Islam yesterday left for Indonesia to lead the Bangladesh delegation at the two-day consultation.

Ministers from other Asian labour sending countries China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam will also attend the consultation hosted by Indonesia and supported by International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Department for International Development (DFID).

Amir Hossain, joint secretary of the expatriate ministry, and SM Wahid-uz-Zaman, director general of BMET, are accompanying the state minister.

An official from each sending countries will be posted in the centre to help solve disputes regarding the migrant workers in the Gulf countries, said an official in the ministry.

DFID will be the prime funding agency while the Kuwait government will give all logistic support and other sending countries will share the rest of the expenses in running the centre, he noted.

At the Bali meeting, Bangladesh will propose to form a common platform of labour receiving and sending countries to promote mutual understanding and address the challenges concerning the migration issues, the official added.

Bangladesh will also propose to labour sending countries to take a common stand in the next WTO meeting with regard to liberalisation of the labour movement under General Agreements on Trades and Services (GATS).