The project "Supporting a Talent Partnership with Bangladesh, " aimed at ensuring ethical, regular, and safe migration of skilled manpower between Bangladesh and the European Union, has successfully completed its second year, says a press release of the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry.
Financed by the European union with a budget of 3 million euros and with technical assistance from the International Labour Organization, this project is being implemented from 1 July 2024, to 30 June 2027.
Recently, on the project's second anniversary, an overview of its overall progress and success was published.
The project is being conducted under the joint sponsorship of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and the Technical and Madrasah Education Division.
It is being successfully implemented on the ground through the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.
Additionally, the National Skill Development Authority, Directorate of Technical Education, Bangladesh Technical Education Board, and BOESL are working as partner organisations in this project.
According to the progress report released in June 2026, several unique milestones have already been achieved under this project.
A total of 698 workers who completed technical training have been recognised as qualified by the ''National Skill Development Authority'' according to international standards.
They are fully prepared to be sent to the European market, particularly Italy, in 8 major trades. Continuous communication is maintained with the Italian embassy to send workers to different sectors in Italy, and many are currently awaiting interviews.
A high-level review meeting was held today on how to effectively incorporate trainees' information into the ''Overseas Employment Platform'' according to the demands of Italy and other European countries.
In this meeting, the State Minister for the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, Mohammad Nurul Haque, emphasised the need to further enhance the functions of the ''Overseas Employment Platform'' to ensure sustainable and ethical migration.
He placed special emphasis on making the platform more effective and accessible by making it quickly usable on mobile devices.
The State Minister further mentioned that as workers are being trained according to European standards, arrangements should be made to send them to other European countries in addition to Italy.
This project will greatly encourage the irregular migration of skilled workers from the country to Europe.
Priority activities for the coming days of the project include ensuring Italian language education alongside technical training and a 10-day Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) manual.
Additionally, a decision was made to create an ''Employer-Matching Pipeline'' to establish direct connections between certified graduates and international recruitment agencies.
Among others, the meeting was attended by Lotte Keizer, Chief Technical Advisor of the ILO, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Md Saiful Haque Chowdhury, Managing Director of BOESL Md Saiful Islam, Director General of BMET Jamil Ahmed, along with other senior officials from the ministry.
