Dhaka: Bangladesh’s remittance earnings sent by expatriates will stand at US$ 15 billion by the year-end, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam BSc said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference ahead of the International Migration Day that falls on 18 December, the minister said 5,23,598 Bangladeshis have so far gone abroad this year for jobs while the number will stand at 5.5 lakh by the end of the current year.

Nurul Islam said some 96 lakh Bangladeshis are employed abroad in almost 160 countries.

He said the government will not allow anybody to go abroad illegally, and mentioned that the government has already stopped the way of going abroad through risky boat voyage.  

The Expatriates Minister said sending workers to Malaysia under G-to-G plus (government-to-government plus) initiative is now at the final stage.

He hoped that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will soon be signed to send workers under the G-to-G Plus initiative.  

Responding to a question, the Minister said the workers will be sent through recruiting agencies having good track record not by any syndicate.  

He described the programmes chalked out to observe the International Migration Day that include rally, discussion and fairs.

Additional Secretary of the Ministry Md Hazrat Ali and Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) Director General Begum Shamsun Nahar were present at the press conference held at the Ministry conference room.