Bangladesh, Greece sign deal to hire 4,000 Bangladeshis yearly

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh and Greece signed an agreement Wednesday to hire 4,000 Bangladeshi workers in Greece annually in a regular manner.

Bangladesh Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad and his Greek counterpart Panagiotis A. Mitarakis signed the deal in Dhaka.

“Bangladeshi workers will be provided a 5-year temporary work permit,” according to the Bangladesh expatriate ministry. “Under the agreement, seasonal workers will be hired in the agricultural sector.”

Both countries will later increase the number of sectors based on demand and workers under the deal will have to return to Bangladesh after five years.

Workers will have to submit valid travel documents. Greece will soon present the deal to parliament for approval.

In a joint news conference, Ahmad said employers in Greece will directly recruit workers and "there will be no middleman or agent.”

Bangladeshi workers are hard-working but often human traffickers trap them, according to Mitarakis, who added the deal will protect workers’ interests.

Greece will provide temporary residence permits for five years to 15,000 Bangladeshi migrants. The country is home to an estimated 30,000 documented and undocumented Bangladeshis.

Bangladesh is the sixth-largest migrant-sending country and the eighth largest remittance-receiving country, globally, according to the International Organization for Migration.