Indonesia agrees to lift freeze on sending migrant workers to Malaysia
The entry of migrant workers will help Malaysia - the world's second-largest palm oil producer and a key link in the global supply chain - ease a shortage of some 1.2 million workers.
Indonesia this month temporarily stopped sending its citizens to work in Malaysia, including thousands recruited for the plantation sector, citing a breach in an agreement aimed at improving the protection of domestic workers employed in Malaysian households.
Jakarta agreed to resume sending its workers after both countries agreed to trial a single channel to facilitate the recruitment and entry of Indonesian workers, Malaysia's Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan said in a statement.
Indonesia's Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah announced separately that both parties agreed to resume recruitment of workers from August 1, depending on whether the implementation of the commitments made in the agreement is effective.
Malaysia's immigration authorities had previously used an online recruitment system for domestic workers, but that had been linked to allegations of trafficking and forced labour.
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