The ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment has taken a series of major decisions to expand manpower export to Japan, a market seen as one of the most promising for Bangladeshi workers in the coming years.
The decisions were taken at the 3rd meeting of the ministry’s ‘Japan Cell’ on September 3 with chief adviser’s special envoy on international affairs Lutfey Siddiqi in the chair, said a press release issued by the chief adviser’s press wing on Tuesday.
The ministry informed the chief adviser’s office in details about the decisions through an official letter.
According to the letter, initiatives should be taken to make Facebook posts, including quotations from the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment adviser Professor Asif Nazrul and the ambassador to Japan, about the activities of the ‘Japan Cell’ through the chief adviser’s press secretary, which will be promoted through the chief adviser’s official Facebook page.
Regarding the activities of the ‘Japan Desk’ related to the Japanese labour market, the letter said that Japan was a potential labour market for Bangladesh.
It is estimated that the working population deficit in Japan could reach 11 million by 2040, as mentioned in the Japan Times report dated March 30, 2024. Japan has the possibility of hiring foreign workers under various visa categories.
At the directive of chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, the release said that a comprehensive action plan had been taken to provide training and ensure employment through agreements between the National Business Support Cooperative Federation, Japan Bangla Bridge Recruiting Agency Ltd, and Kaicom Dream Street BD Co Ltd to expand employment opportunities for Bangladeshi workers in Japan.
It said that workers will be sent to Japan in the Specified Skilled Worker category under the National Business Support Cooperative Federation.
In this case, target-based workers have been identified and other organizations can also plan to recruit workers so that the export of skilled workers from Bangladesh can be increased and various major initiatives for the country’s labour market can be implemented in the future, the release added.
For this purpose, it said that the ‘Japan Desk’ had been launched with the support of various offices, including the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, the embassies of Bangladesh and Japan, and Business World.
The activities of the ‘Japan Desk’ include assessing demand in the existing labour market in Japan, identifying and promoting employment opportunities, providing language training to employees, digital testing, and data collection, ensuring communication and coordination with different agencies in Japan and other foreign offices and the activities of the ministry’s QCS-17 Centre.
About the activities of the ‘Japan Desk’, Asif Nazrul said that their manpower export goal was to create new employment opportunities and reduce poverty. ‘Through the desk, we believe we can achieve this target. Having Japanese officials directly involved in the desk will further boost employment opportunities.’
Bangladesh’s ambassador to Japan noted that Japanese authorities were then focusing more on ensuring quality rather than quantity by monitoring the completion of all stages of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
‘For this, mechanical Japanese language training for trainees of the Technical Training Center by Japanese language trainers and teachers for local technical trainers should also be arranged,’ the ambassador said.
Besides, the release said that there were plans to provide skilled nursing services through Kaicom Dream Street BD Co. Ltd.
In collaboration with KDS, CTG will be developed as a model campus under the KDS Group through training and Japanese language and skill acquisition programmes, where the number of Bangladeshi workers will increase significantly.
National Business Support Cooperative Federation and Japan Bangla Bridge Recruiting Agency Ltd will jointly recruit workers in the SSW category through an expansion agreement.