Expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister Nurul Islam on Wednesday said female workers employed in Saudi Arabia can be accompanied by one of their close male relatives with the men working under ‘domestic service’ category.
The minister said this while speaking at a press conference at the Expatriates’ Welfare Building in Dhaka.
He also said the issue will be discussed in the upcoming joint working committee meeting between the two countries.
The minister said he already had a discussion over this with his Saudi counterpart during his visit to Saudi Arabia.
The countries reached an agreement several months ago over recruiting female workers from Bangladesh, but authorities concerned said female workers are less interested to this end due to a number of reasons.
The minister also came up with a report on manpower export in 2014-15 at the press conference.
In 2014, a total of 4,25,684 workers went abroad while it went up to 5,55,881 in 2015, recording a 36.44 per cent increase.
A total of 1,03,707 female workers went abroad in 2015, which was only 76,007 in 2014.
Remittance income of the country also increased during this time, the minister added.
