Bangla missions promise to use amnesty extension

A senior official from the Bangladesh government pledged yesterday that his missions in the Kingdom would use the extended amnesty period to correct the status of its workers.
Visiting Bangladesh Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Khandker Mosharraf Hossain gave this assurance during his talks yesterday with Riyadh Gov. Prince Khaled bin Bandar.
During the talks with the governor, the minister thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for extending the amnesty from July 3 to Nov. 3 to accommodate a large number of expatriates.
The Saudi government has warned illegal workers they face a penalty of SR 100,000 and a jail term of two years if they fail to correct their status.
During the amnesty, more than 240,000 Bangladesh expatriates obtained their documents processed at their country’s missions in Riyadh and Jeddah. This included new passports, renewal of passports, outpasses and 20,000 travel permits.
A large contingent of officers from Dhaka were seconded to assist the missions in Riyadh and Jeddah to complete their task.
During his brief stay in Jeddah, Hossain held talks with his counterpart Adel Fakeih and Deputy Interior Minister Dr. Ahmad Al-Salim.
During his meeting with Fakeih, Hossain was able to finalize a draft memorandum of understanding to ensure the smooth recruitment of workers from Dhaka. The two dignitaries agreed to sign the pact after working out further details. Bangladesh signed a similar agreement recently with Malaysia.
It was also agreed to set up training centers for human resource development in Bangladesh in cooperation with the Saudi government.
Earlier, in a statement following the meeting with Fakeih, Hossain asked the Saudi government to allow some Bangladesh workers without proper documentation to return home. He said these workers had entered the country legally.
“These workers are willing to travel back to Bangladesh on final exits but are unable to do so with the travel permit (outpass) issued by the Bangladesh missions in Saudi Arabia.”
The minister is leading a five-member delegation comprising secretary of the ministry Dr. Zafar Ahmed Khan; Director General of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Begum Shamsun Nahar; Director General of Foreign Affairs Ministry Sultana Laila Hossain; and Private Secretary to the Minister Muhammad Ibrahim.
Bangladesh Ambassador Mohammed Shahidul Islam accompanied the minister during the meetings in Jeddah and Riyadh.
In Dammam, the minister is slated to pay a courtesy call on Eastern Province Gov. Prince Saud bin Naif.