Desk Report:
On Wednesday (April 8, 2026), the State Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Md. Nurul Haque, was met by the Charge d’Affaires of the Singapore High Commission in Bangladesh, Michelle Lee, at his office. The meeting, held in a very cordial atmosphere, discussed various issues of mutual interest between the two countries, especially the export of skilled manpower and increasing bilateral cooperation.
At the beginning of the meeting, the State Minister thanked the Charge d’Affaires of Singapore and recalled with gratitude Singapore’s historical role as one of the countries that granted recognition in the fastest time after the Great Liberation War of Bangladesh.
In the meeting, the State Minister made a special request to the Singapore government to increase the number of Singapore Overseas Testing Centers (OTCs) existing in Bangladesh from 6 to a minimum of 10. He called for the recruitment of skilled manpower from Bangladesh in the food and beverage, nursing, caregiving, manufacturing and hotel management sectors in addition to the existing sectors. The State Minister proposed to use the Technical Training Centers (TTCs) under the ministry for these specialized sectors and requested to list the only government recruiting agency, BOESL, as the ‘sending organization’ for the recruitment process in a transparent manner.
Participating in the discussion, Joint Secretary of the ministry, Md. Shahidul Islam Chowdhury, said that currently about 1.35 lakh Bangladeshi workers are working in Singapore. He proposed to provide employment to diploma and short course graduates from the 6 ‘Institutes of Marine Technology’ in Bangladesh in various ports of Singapore. He also requested to increase the quota set for Bangladesh under the ‘Sandbox’ project.
Singapore’s Charge d’Affaires Michelle Lee praised Bangladesh’s skilled workforce and mentioned the possibility of employing Bangladeshi skilled workers in new projects at Changi Airport, Santosa Island and Paya Labor Airbase in the future. She expressed interest in doubling the current 7 flights of Singapore Airlines on the Dhaka-Singapore route. However, she placed special emphasis on improving the skills of the staff and respecting Singapore’s laws. She also expressed interest in investing in passenger information management at Bangladesh’s airports.
Second Secretary of the Singapore High Commission, Dhania Linges, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Mohammad Shaheen and senior officials of the ministry were present at the time.
