According to sources in the expatriate welfare ministry, Bangladesh can send significant number of workers to Italy every year particularly targeting its agriculture sector, where there are huge opportunities for seasonal jobs.

The only requirement for grabbing this job market is a readmission treaty between the two countries, the ministry officials said adding, there are also demand for workers in hotels, restaurants, mills and factories.

State Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Quamrul Islam said Italy has shown interest to sign the agreement with Bangladesh for official recruitment of workers in agriculture and other sectors.

Islam paid a week-long visit to Rome last month and discussed the matter with Margherita Boniver, under-secretary on labour welfare of Italian foreign ministry, and G Silverin, director general of Labour Immigration.

Signing of such a treaty will open up a number of new areas in Italy where thousands of Bangladeshis can get job every year, the ministry sources observed.

However, they said, the only disadvantage of such a treaty is that the Italian government may send back all the Bangladeshis illegally staying there.

But the state minister said the number of undocumented workers has reduced significantly in recent years as Rome legalised around 45,000 Bangladeshis. "Only a few hundred Bangladeshis are now staying in Italy without permission," he said.

Italy has increased the workers quota for Bangladesh to 1,500 this year from 300 last year. A total of 230 workers went to Italy last year with government permission.

The expatriate welfare ministry however warned the people of paying money to any recruiting agency for job in Italy because, according to ministry officials, it is a long process, which hardly any recruiting agency can meet.

Last year, a private recruiting agency collected thousands of applications from Bangladeshis who wanted to go to Italy. The company, Datco, selected 1,000 applicants and sent to Rome for approval, but none was given permission yet.

The ministry has sought explanation from the company in this regard and its permission for overseas recruitment would be cancelled if it fails to explain properly, a high official of the ministry told The Daily Star.

Bangladesh and Italy traditionally enjoy very cordial bilateral relations. The two countries signed a general cooperation agreement in 1992. The annual flow of remittance from Italy is around $20 million.

The trade between the two countries is also in favour of Dhaka as Bangladesh exports around $250 million dollars worth of goods to Italy every year and import only a few machinery items from there.