Majlis Shoura Speaker Abdullah Al-Shaikh to visit Bangladesh

Speaker of Saudi Majlis Shoura Dr. Abdullah bin Muhammad Al-Sheikh will leave for Bangladesh tomorrow on a three-day visit. Al-Sheikh is visiting there in response to an invitation that Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Abdul Hamid had extended to him last year.
During his stay at Dhaka, Al-Shaikh will call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and will also meet with his Bangladesh counterpart and other high ranking officials of the country.
The visit is considered one of the high-profile ones in recent times from a high-ranking Saudi official to Bangladesh. Approximately two million Bangladesh nationals work in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia had recruited about 150,000 Bangladeshis annually until 2008. But for the last three years, the average of recruitments stood at around 10,000.
Bangladesh Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharaf Hossain said recently that the government has taken steps, including the registration of the overseas-bound workers and issuance of smart cards, to make sure workers with criminal background cannot go to Saudi Arabia or any other country.
He also informed that he invited the Saudi Labor Minister to visit Bangladesh to see the recruiting process and training programs for the workers who are going abroad for jobs.