Out of the 12 labour departments in the Bangladesh embassies, four posts of counsellor in Riyadh, Kuala Lumpur, Tripoli and Singapore have been lying vacant while another two will fall vacant very soon, according to sources in the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment.

The ministry has already selected eight deputy secretary level officials for the four posts and the list and profiles of the officials have been sent to the prime minister for approval.

Meanwhile, the post in Jeddah will be vacant as present Counsellor Abdul Hamid, a deputy secretary recently promoted to joint secretary, had been asked to return home by last month.

First Secretary (labour) ABM Rashedul Islam in Kuala Lumpur is also returning to the country on completion of his tenure.

Expatriate ministry officials said a total of eight officials--two for each of the four posts--were selected for consideration on the basis of their previous records and formal interviews.

Of the eight Harunur Rashid, private secretary to Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain, was selected for the post in Riyadh, Abdus Sobhan Sikder, former deputy secretary of the expatriate ministry, for Kuala Lumpur, and Aftab Hossain Pramanik, private secretary to Communication Secretary Shafiqul Islam, for Singapore.

The process of selecting a labour counsellor for Jeddah and first secretary (labour) for Kuala Lumpur will start very soon, sources said.

The appointments will be given for a four-year term each.

Manpower export from the country has declined 19 percent this year compared to previous year. According to sources, a total of 91,447 Bangladeshis went abroad for job during January-May this year against 1,13,056 in the same period last year.

Reluctance of many countries to recruit foreign workers, trade union activities of Bangladeshi labourers abroad and the government's restriction on workers without documents were cited as the main reasons behind the decline in manpower export.

Non-cooperation of the Bangladesh embassies and lack of initiative and efficient manpower in the labour wings have also caused this decline, sources pointed out.