Bangladesh and EU to Work Together to Prevent Illegal Migration

Bangladesh and the European Union (EU) will work together to ensure legal and regular migration, prevent irregular migration and human trafficking, and expand employment opportunities for skilled Bangladeshi workers in the EU labour market.

A bilateral meeting was held at the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment on Monday to discuss these issues. The Bangladeshi delegation was led by Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury, while the EU delegation was led by Magnus Brunner, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration.

At the meeting, Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury said the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, was committed to ensuring regular migration. He said the government had already taken strict measures to prevent irregular migration and restore discipline in the migration sector. As part of these efforts, the licences of 52 recruiting agencies had been cancelled.

He also said Bangladesh was working as an EU “Talent Partnership” country to develop workers’ skills. He urged the EU to expand access to its labour market for skilled workers from Bangladesh. EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner said the EU was ready to provide all kinds of support to ensure legal migration and combat irregular migration and human trafficking.

He noted that around 500,000 Bangladeshis were currently living legally in various EU countries. He also said that the presence of a stable government and a stable situation in Bangladesh had improved the situation regarding applications for political asylum, adding that Bangladesh was being considered a “safe country”.

Among those attending the meeting were State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Md. Nurul Haque, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Dr. Md. Shakirul Islam Khan, Additional Secretary Md. Saiful Islam, BMET’s managing director Mohammad Rashedul Haque, and Joint Secretary Md. Shahidul Islam Chowdhury.

Members of the EU delegation included Director Henrik Nielsen, Cabinet Member Grigorios Delavecoras, Commissioner’s Communications Adviser Lukas Gassner, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh H.E. Michael Miller, Deputy Head of Delegation Baiba Zarina, and First Counsellor and Political Officer Kamila Partyska.