Italy is prepared to open its labour market further to Bangladeshi workers and strengthen efforts to ensure safe and legal migration, visiting Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said during a meeting with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka on Monday.
Speaking at the State Guest House Jamuna, the Italian minister stressed the need for renewed bilateral cooperation between the two countries, with a focus on labour mobility, tackling human trafficking, and boosting trade and investment.
He also announced that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to visit Dhaka before September.
“We have a great Bangladeshi community in Italy. They are hardworking, and well-integrated into our society,” Minister Piantedosi told the CA Yunus. “We need more of them — but through safe and legal channels.”
The minister noted that irregular sea crossings have become increasingly challenging for Italy and called for Dhaka’s cooperation to curb illegal migration and dismantle trafficking networks.
“We’re here to propose a new cooperation framework focused on orderly migration,” Piantedosi remarked.
Professor Yunus welcomed the proposal, assuring the minister of Bangladesh’s full support in addressing the issue. “Bangladesh is committed to stopping illegal migration and human trafficking,” he said.
The chief adviser highlighted that Bangladeshi migrants are often exploited by international trafficking rings, and stressed the importance of joint action. “Migrants are the sufferers, not the beneficiaries, of human trafficking,” he said.
The chief adviser also recalled his meeting with Prime Minister Meloni during the UN General Assembly in New York last year, where both sides agreed to deepen bilateral ties.