(MENAFN- Arab News) A special delegation from the Saudi Labor Ministry which was commissioned on Sunday in a royal decree issued last week will shortly leave for Dhaka to work out the details for the recruitment of Bangladesh manpower the Bangladesh Embassy announced here on Sunday.

The royal decree announced lifting of the 2008 ban on manpower recruitment from Bangladesh. The skilled workers both males and females will be given visas for employment in the Kingdom and children with valid resident cards who have reached 18 years of age will be allowed to transfer their sponsorship to new sponsors under the current labor regulations.

Bangladesh Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Khandker Mosharraf Hossain recently led a seven-member delegation to the Kingdom where he was assured by Labor Minister Adel Fakeih that the ban would be lifted soon.

Fakeih thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman for allowing the recruitment of skilled workers from labor exporting countries to meet the labor requirement. The Saudi delegation comprising senior labor officials will assist and advise the officials in Dhaka as to the type of orientation programs to be conducted for the prospective workers from that country.

Fakeih said the labor recruitment from Bangladesh has been resumed on the assurance by the Dhaka government that qualified and skilled workers will be sent for employment to the Kingdom.

Bangladesh Ambassador Mohamed Shahidul Islam in Riyadh welcomed the decision and said 'The re-launch of the recruitment of manpower from Bangladesh will ensure that the labor relations of the two countries will be further strengthened.' He said the opening of the Saudi labor market for Bangladesh was a huge success in diplomatic terms for the South Asian country.

It's a 'major milestone in the diplomatic relations between the two countries' the envoy said.

Islam said that his government has given a deadline for its nationals to obtain their Machine Readable Passport (MRP) by 2015. Following the announcement more than 2000 Bangladeshis line up at their embassy daily to get their machine readable passports.

To cope with the rush he said the mission has requested all embassy officials to help its consular department to expedite the work.

There are some 1.5 million Bangladesh expatriates in the Kingdom and they all have to get their documents processed he noted.

He recalled that around 750000 Bangladeshi migrant workers benefited from an amnesty for illegal workers by the Saudi authorities earlier. Of the beneficiaries about 400000 undocumented workers' passports were renewed and issued while around 350000 workers who were at risk of becoming undocumented were able to change their professions.

In addition to the consular services offered in Riyadh the Bangladesh Embassy also outsourced its consular services in Jubail Al-Ahsa Dammam Al-Jouf Sakaka and Al-Qassim.

The Jeddah Consulate further offers consular services in Khamis Mushayt Jazan Najran Tabuk Yanbu Al-Baha and Madinah.

Around 100000 pilgrims come for Haj annually and a large number of Umrah pilgrims also come from Dhaka throughout the year.