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Denpasar. Indonesia will resume sending migrant workers to Malaysia early next year, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said on Wednesday.

Muhaimin said negotiations between the two countries on improving protections and working conditions for Indonesian migrants had entered the final stage.

“By the end of this month it [the negotiation process] will be completed. Then, by the end of December, or at the beginning of next year, the two countries will sign the memorandum of understanding,” he said. “As soon as that is done, our moratorium will be revoked and we will resume sending workers.”

Speaking after opening a conference of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Denpasar, Muhaimin said that representatives from Indonesia and Malaysia would meet again for three days in Bali starting today.

He said progress had been made at the previous meeting in the neighboring country, with Malaysia agreeing to set up a task force to protect migrant workers from violence. Malaysia also announced it would give Indonesian workers one day off each week and allow them to retain their passports, which previously had to be surrendered to their employers.

Indonesia imposed the moratorium on sending workers to Malaysia in June after a string of high-profile cases in which Indonesians were physically abused by their employers. The issue was compounded by the workers’ lack of access to the Malaysian judiciary.

Muhaimin said the lifting of the moratorium would be accompanied by improved programs to prepare migrant workers before they were sent overseas, including a requirement that they undergo a minimum of 200 hours of standard training.

“They will not go without it,” he said.

Masri Hasyar, the director general of training and productivity at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, said the 200-hour training requirement would be prioritized for migrant workers in the informal sector, particularly domestic helpers.

“We are preparing Rp 200 million [$21,400] for every 15,000 workers,” he said.

Muhaimin added that his office, in cooperation with the police and immigration officials, would improve supervision of areas believed to be the staging points for migrant workers heading overseas illegally, including Riau Islands and Nunukan in East Kalimantan.

“If these problems can be solved,” he said, “then our bargaining position will increase.”