Staff Reporter:
Italy is willing to hire more manpower from Bangladesh and undertake measures to ensure their safe migration.
Visiting Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi informed this as he call on Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday.
Officials said the issues of mutual interests including safe and legal migration of Bangladeshis, combat-ing human trafficking and trade and investment were discussed during the meeting held at State Guest House Jamuna.
Matteo told the Chief Adviser that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was expected to visit Bangla-desh sometime before September, as Rome was keen to renew its bilateral cooperation with Dhaka.
“We have a great Bangladeshi community in Italy. We are really satisfied with the Bangladeshi commu-nity as they are young, hardworking, and have integrated them with the Italian society perfectly. We need more such manpower like,” he said.
“The reason I am here is to share with you that many of them rely on illegal means to reach Italy, which is dangerous. We want the ones who follow the legal framework,” the minister said.
The minister said the uncontrolled arrival of migrants by sea is “very problematic” for the European na-tion and sought Bangladesh’s cooperation to eliminate illegal migration and organised crime.
“We are here to propose a new way of cooperation policy,” he said.
The Chief Adviser said Bangladesh is eager to work with Italy to stop illegal migration and human traf-ficking.
Prof Yunus said, “There are some international groups who try to lure Bangladeshis to go Italy in an illegal way.
“Those people create problems,” he said adding “Migrants are the sufferers, not the beneficiaries of hu-man trafficking.”
The Chief Adviser recalled his meeting with the Italian Prime Minister in the sidelines of UNGA in New York in September last year and said the two countries would work together closely to combat the is-sues.
