Japanese authorities and businesses on Thursday announced plans to recruit at least 1,00,000 workers from Bangladesh in the next five years to meet the country’s growing labourers’ shortage.
Speaking at a seminar titled, ‘Bangladesh seminar on human resources’, chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus said that the interim government of Bangladesh would do everything in its capacity to create the job opportunities for Bangladeshis in Japan.
‘This is going to be the most exciting day for me, the most inspiring day. This will open the door for Bangladeshis not to only work but to know Japan,’ he said.
The chief adviser witnessed the signing of two Memorandum of Under standings – first between Bangladesh’s Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training and Kaicom Dream Street, a Japan-Bangladesh joint venture, and second among Bangladesh’s BMET and Japan’s National Business Support Combined Cooperatives, a business federation with over 65 receiving companies operating in the country, and Japan Bangla Bridge Recruiting Agency at the event organised in Toshi Kaikan conference hall in Tokyo.
Yunus noted that Bangladesh was a country of 180 million people, and half of them were under 27. The government’s job was to open the door for them.
Mitsuru Matsushita, representative director of supervising organisation Shizuoka Workplace Environment Improvement Cooperative, said that many Japanese companies were facing enquiries about Bangladeshis, and he believed the trend would continue.
‘Bangladeshi talents hold great potential. It is our duty to nurture their talent,’ he said.
Mikio Kesagayama, chairman of NBCC, recalled that about 14 years ago, Professor Yunus came to Japan and was telling stories about helping women through microcredit.
‘Our Federation looks to Bangladesh for young and capable labour. They can contribute to the development of both Bangladesh and Japan. In the coming five years, we are prepared to welcome more than 1,00,000 Bangladeshi workers,’ he said.
Sharing the future plan on the recruitment of Bangladeshis in the Japanese industries, Miki Watanabe, president of Watami Group, said that a school, they established in Bangladesh, trained 1,500 students every year, and they were then planning to raise the number to 3,000.
‘With technical education in Bangladesh, they can enter the job market in Japan,’ he said.
Hiroaki Yagi, chairman of Japan International Trainee and Skilled Worker Cooperation Organisation, shared the potential and challenges for Bangladeshis in the Japanese labour market.
He said that the number of language teachers in Bangladesh was still short.
Niki Hirobumi, state minister of the ministry of health, labour and welfare in Japan, said that his country was facing a declining population and thus would need the support of Bangladeshi workforce.
‘This can be promising not only for Bangladesh but also for Japan,’ he said.
In his welcome speech, Daud Ali, Bangladesh ambassador to Japan, said that by 2040, the Japanese labour shortage could reach 11 million, and Bangladesh could take the opportunity to send more skilled workers.
Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain, chief adviser’s special envoy Lutfey Siddiqi and principal coordinator on SDG affairs Lamiya Morshed were also present at the meeting.
