Malaysia, Bangladesh To Sign MoU To Combat Human Trafficking

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), May 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Bangladesh will be signing a memmorandum of understanding (MoU) to combat human trafficking between the two countries so that innocent people are not exploited, said Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein. "The MoU will be signed soon after both countries create a mechanism at the operational level whereby political will between Malaysia and Bangladesh can be translated into an action plan involving the respective authorities," he said. The MoU was hoped could also help combat other related crimes like money laundering, drugs and weapons smuggling, he told reporters after receiving a courtesy call from Bangladesh's Minister of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment of Bangladeshis, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, here Monday. Hishammuddin said ties between the two countries would be cemented further as Bangladesh supplied the highest number of foreign workers to serve in various sectors in Malaysia including construction, agriculture and services. He also said Malaysia and Bangladesh had worked closely during Malaysia's 6P foreign worker amnesty programme particularly during the registration and legalisation exercises. "It a testimony of a strategic partnership between Malaysia as a labour recipient country and Bangladesh as a labour sending country," he added. Hishammuddin said under the 6P Programme, Bangladesh nationals were the second largest foreign workforce registered, numbering 400,000. He said this kind of cooperation was pivotal to ensure orderly movement of people particularly foreign workers into Malaysia including from Bangladesh as well as ensuring that foreign workers in this country would not be exploited or taken advantage of by unscrupulous individual or agents. He added that the Bangladesh government also hoped that the sending of foreign workers from the country could be on a government-to-government basis to avoid involvement of middlemen. -- BERNAMA