Dhaka: Bangladesh government signed government-to-government plus (G2G plus) agreement with Malaysia on Thursday morning.

Under the agreement, around 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers will be sent to Malaysia through private recruiting agencies in the next three years.

The G2G deal was inked between the countries at the ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment in the capital’s Eskaton area.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam signed the deal on behalf of Bangladesh while Malaysian Human Resources Minister Richard Riot Anak Jaem signed the (Memorandum of Understanding) MoU at about 10:00am.

After the signing of the deal, Nurul Islam said Malaysia will recruit Bangladeshi workers in all sectors, including infrastructure, agriculture, plantation and manufacturing, adding the recruitment process will start very soon.

The total cost for going to Malaysia from Bangladesh through working visa has been fixed at Tk 34,000-37,000 per person while the majority portion of the cost will be carried by the employers, the minister added.

Answering to a question about the salaries of the workers, the minister said the wages will be fixed according to the rules and regulations of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency dealing with labour issues.

Nurul Islam said the minimum monthly salaries will be 900 MYR while in some cities like Sarawak the salary range will be minimum 800 MYR.

According to the deal, non-government recruiting agencies will also send workers to Malaysia alongside the government, the minister said.

However, during the recruitment process, a deal will be signed between the employers and the workers which will be attested by the High Commission of Dhaka in Kuala Lampur.

Replying to the questions of the reporters, Malaysian minister Dato Seri Richard Riot said the total process—from applying for visas to getting visas—will be implemented through online in order to ensure fairness and transparency in the whole process.

On 8 February, the Cabinet approved the draft of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysia with a target of sending 15 lakh (1.5 million) Bangladeshi workers there in three years while the Malaysian cabinet approved the MoU on 20 December, 2015.

Earlier on 2009, the Malaysian government postponed recruitment of Bangladeshi workers because of several irregularities and corruption in the recruiting process.

In 2012, Bangladesh and Malaysia signed a MoU under G2G agreement in order to restart the recruitment process and in 2014 both countries signed a protocol under the MoU.

However, Bangladesh and Malaysia signed the new MoU under G2G plus agreement following the failure of the previous G2G agreement.