Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Nov.30 (ANI): Malaysia’s freeze on the intake of Bangladeshi workers will stay despite a request from Dhaka for a review of the decision, said the country’s Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Najib conveyed this to his counterpart Sheikh Hasina Wajed during their talks on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2009 here on Saturday.

Speaking to Malaysian journalists at the end of Day Two of the conference, he said: “I explained to her that we decided on the freeze to prevent unscru­pulous agents from exploiting the workers.”

According to The Star, it was a cordial meeting.

According to Najib, the Bangladeshi side understood that in the current econo­­mic climate, it would be difficult for Malaysia to increase the number of workers from Bangladesh.

The Cabinet decided to freeze the intake of Bangladeshi workers in October 2007, the second time such a decision was made after the first in 1999. (ANI)