The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, who wrapped up a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, has said punitive action will be taken against unscrupulous middlemen involved in visa trading.
'These men are largely responsible for some of the workers' problems in the kingdom,' she said, according to a report published by Arabnews.com.
Dipu Moni, who arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday morning, had a meeting with acting Riyadh governor Prince Sattam to apprise him of the welfare measures adopted by the Bangladesh government for the betterment of its migrant workers in the kingdom.
'While appreciating the contribution made by a majority of the 1.5 million workers in the kingdom, we also took note of the problems faced by a fraction of the community members,' she said. 'Migrant workers have become victims of fraudulent activities of middlemen.'
She said, 'We want to eradicate the middlemen who fleece the innocent workers who leave their homeland to earn for their families.'
The state minister of home affairs, Shamsul Haque Tuku, and the Bangladesh ambassador, Mohammed Shahidul Islam, also took part in the discussions with the acting governor.
Dipu Moni and Tuku jointly inaugurated the machine readable passport and visa programmes at the Bangladesh embassy. A similar programme was commissioned at Bangladesh consulate in Jeddah on Tuesday.
Inaugurating the new system, Dipu Moni said this was being done to streamline the activities of Bangladeshi nationals working abroad which would facilitate them to carry out any passport-related matters without any hassle.
Urging her countrymen to uphold the image of Bangladesh in the host country, the Dipu Moni said it was the duty of every expatriate to protect the sanctity of the holy land.
'You should show pay utmost respect to the culture, heritage and traditions of the kingdom and also abide by the laws, rules, regulations and customs of the kingdom,' she told her countrymen gathered at the embassy.
Source : New Age
