Manama: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: The amnesty announced by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) for regularization of illegal migrant workers, 90 per cent or 35,000 Bangladeshi illegal workers have been regularized so far.
This was confirmed by HE Mohammed Nazrul Islam, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the Kingdom of Bahrain during a webinar organized by the Derasat in co-operation with UNDP office in Bahrain.
The ambassador, who was addressing the webinar titled “The socio-economic impact of the Corona pandemic in Bahrain”, applauded the leadership of HM King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, for economic stimulus of BD4.3 billion and providing medical support to all citizens and residents free of cost. “This is very bold step to provide a free treatment if any resident gets contracted with the virus.”
It is almost 90 per cent have been regularized or almost 35,000 irregualr Bangladeshi workers in Bahrain. However, the ambassador stressed, the exact number of those who availed the amnesty can be made public by the LMRA.
He assured that there would be a zero tolerance for illegal Bangladeshi workers in Bahrain beyond December this year.
There are 100,000 non-skilled Bangladeshi workers living in Bahrain and the Bangladesh embassy started many training initiatives to enhance the level of the skills of the Bangladeshi workers.
The ambassador while touching upon on the initiatives of the Bangladesh embassy said that due to pandemic a lot of people lost their jobs including Bangladeshis, and initiatives such as closing the skill-gaps will help in regularization as well as enhancing the wages of Bangladeshi workers in Bahrain.
“We have a face book page where over 1000 have already registered and the number is growing as we move forward. Also, I will be talking to the Ministry of Industry Commerce and Tourism to work out a package aims at salvaging the SMEs owned by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. We are planning of some loans from Bangladeshi commercial banks to help the SMEs to bailout from difficult times,” he added.
Dr. Omar Al-Ubaydli, Director of Studies and Research (Derasat) on Economics and Energy Studies, said that first quarter witnessed nine per cent of contraction and three per cent in the following quarter.
The webinar was conducted Stefano Pettinato, UNDP Resident Representative, Kingdom of Bahrain and representatives of the UK and the US embassy have also shared their point of views on the pandemic and applauded the Kingdom of Bahrain’s initiatives aims at combating COVID-19 and challenges posed by the pandemic.
