Dhaka: The Malaysian government will soon announce its decision on the recruitment of foreign workers saying the government understands the need for certain sectors who are in need of foreign workers.

‘An important decision on this will be announced in due course,’ Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was quoted by Malaysia state news agency Bernama as saying.

While addressing the Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA) Council Installation Night 2016 Petaling Jaya on Thursday night, he said for the time being the Malaysian government was open to suggestions and proposals from businesses on the matter while employers had also requested for the freeze to be lifted.

On 18 February, Bangladesh Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Nurul Islam and Malaysian Human Resources Minister Richard Riot signed a memorandum of understanding on recruiting 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers through G2G Plus mechanism over the next three years.

In February last, the Malaysian government decided to suspend the recruitment of all foreign workers for Malaysia, including those from Bangladesh, while the government reviewed the two-tier levy programme for foreign workers.