Hiring Bangladeshis: Japan for more skills testing centres

Japan is considering expanding more skills testing centres to facilitate smooth recruitment of Bangladeshis to the East Asian country.

Japan's Vice-Minister for International Affairs of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Watanabe Yoichi said this when Bangladesh Expatriates' Welfare Ministry Senior Secretary Dr Neyamat Ullah Bhuiyan met him in Tokyo yesterday.

The vice-minister responded positively and expressed interest in expanding skill tests to several additional sectors, noting that the Japanese embassy in Bangladesh is already working to collect relevant information in this regard, according to a statement.

Japan currently has skills testing centers on caregiving, building cleaning management, automobile transportation business, agriculture and construction.

Bangladesh wants Japan to set up skill testing centers on manufacturing food and beverage, food service industry, and forestry.

The collaboration between Japan and Bangladesh has increased on skilled labour recruitment. There are 33 Japanese language centres in Bangladesh.

While there were only 18,000 Bangladeshis working or studying in Japan, the number has gone up to 41,000 in 2025.

During the visit of Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus in May this year, the two countries signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to recruit at least 1,00,000 workers from Bangladesh over the next five years.