Staff Correspondent: Minister of Labor and Employment and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Ariful Haque Chowdhury, has joined the 114th International Labor Conference 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland. As per the pre-scheduled schedule, he met with the Minister of Labor of Mauritius, Muhammad Reza Kassam Utim, in a bilateral meeting on June 8 at 9:30 am in the conference room of the United Nations Office in Geneva.
The meeting held fruitful discussions on the reopening of the closed labor market in Mauritius, the current situation of Bangladeshi workers, and future steps on various bilateral issues. As a result, the two countries are hopeful of signing a memorandum of understanding very soon.
During the meeting, Mauritius Minister of Labor Muhammad Reza Kassam Utim said that Mauritius is expressing interest in hiring skilled manpower from Bangladesh. Skilled workers are especially needed for the textile industry. The Mauritius Labor Minister assured that he will soon send a draft of the Memorandum of Understanding on the re-opening of the labor market to Bangladesh.
In addition, the Government of Mauritius has expressed interest in investing in the textile sector of Bangladesh. At the outset, the Minister of Labor and Employment and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Mr. Ariful Haque Chowdhury, extended his greetings to the Government of Mauritius on behalf of the Prime Minister, Mr. Tarique Rahman. He requested the Government of Mauritius to take a positive decision on the early signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on sending manpower from Bangladesh to Mauritius.
He also said that apart from the textile industry, the Bangladesh government is interested in sending skilled manpower in other professions such as doctors, engineers, nurses, accountants, etc. Finally, he invited the Minister of Labor of Mauritius to visit Bangladesh.
The meeting was attended by Md. Abdur Rahman Tarafdar, Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment; Nahida Sobhan, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Switzerland and Representative of the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh; Md. Shamsul Islam, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment; Md. Mahbubul Islam, Assistant Private Secretary to the Minister; and Md. Aminul Islam, First Secretary of the Bangladesh Mission, on behalf of Bangladesh.
