The EU and Bangladesh are stepping up cooperation on legal pathways for labour migrants
Bangladesh, with its great potential and long-standing history of labour migration, has been selected among the first countries for such a partnership, along with Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia
During her visit to Bangladesh in November 2022, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson launched the concept of a talent partnership, one of the innovative tools proposed by the New European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum.
A project designed to support this Talent Partnership entered into force on 1 July 2024 for an initial period of 3 years in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The project is carried out in close collaboration with the government of Bangladesh.
The main objective is to facilitate labour recruitment and mobility between Bangladesh and the EU in full respect of international labour, human rights and gender equality standards.
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Establishing a talent partnership with Bangladesh marks an important step towards the EU's ambition to develop balanced and comprehensive partnerships with key partner countries.
Addressing the root causes of irregular migration through strategic partnerships with countries of origin on the one hand, while offering alternatives for legal migration through the Talent Partnership on the other, are essential components of this approach.
Bangladesh, with its great potential and long-standing history of labour migration, has been selected among the first countries for such a partnership, along with Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Tunisia.
Following a "Team Europe" approach, the Talent Partnership brings together stakeholders from Bangladesh, interested EU Member States and the European Commission to identify common needs and to transform the "brain drain" into a "brain gain" for all partners. The Talent Partnership therefore offers a strategic and sustainable cooperation framework, enabling all partners to develop a coherent set of actions on labour mobility and skills development.
In the last two roundtables that took place in 2023 and 2024, the EU and Bangladesh jointly agreed on common sectors of interest for cooperation: ICT, construction, textile/garment, shipbuilding industry, agriculture and hospitality/tourism, with the option to expand to other professions in the future such as nursing/caregiving and transport. Talent partnerships will address labour shortages in Europe and strengthen mutually beneficial partnerships on migration with Bangladesh.
The supporting Talent Partnership programme, with a budget of €3 million, will focus on improving skills and addressing training needs in sectors of mutual interest. It will foster dialogue between public and private stakeholders working on labour migration, include infrastructure and capacity-building measures and improve the implementation of mobility schemes between Bangladesh and EU Member States.
The programme will also provide concrete support to migrants before their departure and the necessary professional training concerning language and soft skills. It will furthermore facilitate the recognition and validation of those skills.
The complementary Skills-21 project, funded by the EU with EUR 1.8 million, will focus on strengthening technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh to ensure that workers are equipped with adequate skills for the EU labour markets.
Remittances through labour migration constitute a substantial part of the GDP of Bangladesh. The EU and Bangladesh are keen to cooperate in this field to support migrants in choosing safe and legal pathways as opposed to migrants risking their lives on perilous journeys organised by criminal networks. Irregular migration is causing the suffering and deaths of many workers, while others are facing detention or financial losses.
For some, the best option is to return home facing the stigma of having failed and struggle to repay debts.
In response to the rising numbers of irregular arrivals in Europe and the negative impact of human traffickers and smugglers that exploit migrant workers and their families by extorting money, it has become increasingly important to offer more legal opportunities for labour migration.
Only those official and legal channels can ensure that migrant workers enter mobility without additional costs and preserve their safety and well-being.
In addition, the Talent Partnership supports Bangladesh's ambition to facilitate the mobility of 6 million workers over the next five years and its intention to sign respective bilateral agreements with 17 countries.
The number of skilled labour migrants from Bangladesh is gradually rising, however, unskilled workers still represent 50% of the overall migrant labour force.
An insufficiently aware and unskilled labour force primarily fuels unscrupulous recruitment practices – a challenge Bangladesh must continue to address.
The EU and Bangladesh will take stock of the implementation of this programme and will discuss the way forward during the third Talent Partnership Roundtable, co-chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh in the first half of 2025.
The Talent Partnership scheme will strengthen EU-Bangladesh relations by creating a common line of action that reconciles the needs of both sides: the shortage of labour in many sectors in the European Union and the availability of workers that Bangladesh can offer to remedy this situation.
Charles Whiteley is the Ambassador of the European Union to Bangladesh.
