Mumbai: Malaysia and India are making major initiatives at protecting the interests of Indians seeking employment in the Southeast Asian country. The two countries will soon sign an MoU that would protect thousands of Indians job seekers in Malaysia from unscrupulous agents.

Malaysia has also agreed to channel all recruitment through a body set up by the governmental in order to end exploitation by agents and middlemen.

The agreement comes after a meeting between visiting minister for overseas Indians Vayalar Ravi and Malaysia''s human resource development minister Fong Chan Onn.

"We have to prepare a draft which will be approved by both the countries, working out details like working conditions for workers, minimum wage, recruitment procedures, conditions of employment etc," reports quoted Vayalar Ravi as saying. Ravi hopes to sign the MoU during Fong''s visit to India in October this year.

Ravi, who also met Malaysia''s works minister Sami Vellu, said there are about 140,000 Indian workers in Malaysia and this agreement is long overdue. He noted the Malaysian minister had also expressed anguish over the exploitation of Indian workers.