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is maintaining its embargo on Bangladeshi workers, the foreign ministry said
on Thursday. Dipu Moni met Malaysian foreign minister Datuk Anifah Aman on
the sidelines of the 16 th ministerial meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum
in Phukhet, Thailand. Earlier this year, overseas employment minister
Khandker Mosharraf Hossain stated that Kuala Lumpur had taken a " political
decision" to lift the ban that had forced some 55 ,000 Bangladeshi workers
out of Malaysia earlier this year. "Lifting the ban was just a matter of
time", Hossain had told bdnews24. com on May 7. Dipu Moni, in Phuket on
Thursday, enquired about Malaysia's latest stance, the foreign ministry said
in a statement. Aman told Dipu Moni his government would lift the ban on
Bangladeshi workers after Malaysia had fully recovered from the effects of
the global recession,. "The Malaysian foreign minister said it was a
reiteration of the existing decision so that unscrupulous manpower agents
did not send prospective workers when there are still no jobs available,"
quoted the statement. "He (Aman) reassured that the decision to take
Bangladeshi workers still holds, " it said. "They will be taken once
Malaysia starts recovering from the current economic recession". The
Malaysian government on March 10 cancelled 55 ,000 visas for Bangladeshi
workers because of a " politically sensitive" statement made by a
Bangladeshi diplomat. Bangladesh labour counsellor Talat Mahmud had told a
Malaysian TV channel that his country had no problem amid the world
recession as 70 ,000 more Bangladeshis were going for jobs despite the
economic slowdown in Malaysia. The counsellor told the same to Malaysia's
state-run news agency, angering people and politicians in Malaysia, hard hit
by the global economic meltdown. The far-eastern country subsequently sent
thousands of Bangladeshi workers back empty-handed. Foreign minister Dipu
Moni and Hossain in April visited Malaysia and had talks with the leaders of
the new government there for lifting the ban. The diplomat was later
withdrawn. Around 500 ,000 Bangladeshis live in Malaysia. Dipu Moni meets
Hillary Clinton Dipu Moni also met US secretary of state Hillary Clinton,
Russian foreign minister Sergey V Lavrov, European Union foreign policy
chief Javier Solana and other leaders. On her meeting with Hilary Clinton,
the statement said, "Secretary Clinton said that her government had a lot of
interest in South Asia and especially in Bangladesh." "In their exchange,
they agreed that a number of areas where the two countries can work together
include issues related to climate change, women, children, human rights and
counter-terrorism," according to the statement. Dipu Moni also met her
Australian counterpart Stephen Smith, the statement said.
