Relationship dossier
Bangladesh
Malaysia
Relationship assessment
Labor migration cooperation, with recurring disputes over recruitment and worker protections
Bangladesh toward Malaysia
+30Bangladesh has cooperated with Malaysia on labor migration, including through bilateral arrangements facilitating the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. Recruitment practices and worker protections have remained areas of friction.
Malaysia toward Bangladesh
+25Malaysia has entered bilateral arrangements with Bangladesh to recruit Bangladeshi workers and has provided humanitarian support connected to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Recruitment practices and worker protections have periodically complicated this cooperation.
Overall relationship
+30Bilateral cooperation is supported by labor-recruitment arrangements and Malaysian humanitarian assistance related to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Disputes over recruitment practices and worker protections have periodically constrained the relationship, leaving it cooperative but not without recurring friction.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Bangladesh and Malaysia maintain a cooperative relationship shaped in part by labor migration. Their governments have used bilateral arrangements to facilitate Bangladeshi workers’ recruitment in Malaysia, while disputes over recruitment practices and worker protections have periodically complicated cooperation. Malaysia has also provided humanitarian support connected to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Areas of tension
- Recruitment practices and protections for Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia
Key developments
Bangladesh and Malaysia concluded a bilateral arrangement on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers.
Malaysia provided humanitarian assistance connected to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Major uncertainties
- The current scope and implementation of bilateral labor-recruitment arrangements are unclear.
- The scale and continuity of Malaysian humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are unclear.