Dhaka to ask rich nations to ease visa scheme for unskilled workers
Sunday, 8 July 2007
FE Report
Officials from the UN member states will gather Tuesday in the Belgian capital of Brussels to shed new light on how migration could contribute to development.
The Global Forum on Migration and Development, first of its kind, will be held on July 10-11, preceded by a civil society meeting on July 09, the sources concerned said.
An official at the foreign ministry said Bangladesh will highlight the potentially huge benefits of temporary labour movement and call upon the developed nations to ease the visa schemes for unskilled and semi-skilled workers.
"We'll explain how the movement of workers from the Third World benefits not only the countries like Bangladesh, but also the OECD countries who need blue-collar workers," the official noted.
An estimated 4.0 million Bangladeshis are working abroad who sent home a whopping amount of US$6.0 billion in the last fiscal, thereby eclipsing other forms of external flows such as foreign investment and development aid.
The forum, which will explore the effective linkage between migration policy and development process, is a follow-up to the last year's high-level dialogue on migration sponsored by the United Nations.
"Temporary labour migration can be a flexible way of meeting labour shortages in the richer countries, while lessening the unemployment burdens on the developing world, and spreading the developmental gains of migration more widely," the official said.
Studies say a temporary visa scheme by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries will give economic benefits both to the wealthy and the impoverished nations worth around US$ 150-200 billion a year.
Talking to the FE, a senior foreign ministry official said Bangladesh would be a coordinating partner at the first roundtable exclusively devoted to the temporary labour migration on the concluding day of the forum.
"This session will aim to produce a set of practical policy guidelines for governments of countries of origin and destination to engage with the private sector to the mutual advantage of migrants, host communities, employers and developing economies," he added.
Hamidur Rashid, director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will chair the roundtable in which Marta Altolaguirre, vice foreign minister of Guatemala, Rene Cristobal, president, Manpower Resources of Asia and Syed Saiful Haque of Bangladesh will be the panelists.
An official of the expatriate ministry noted, Bangladeshi delegation will show evidence of development impact of remittances on poverty reduction.
He said the flow of remittances sent home by the country's blue-collar workers enabled the country to sustain its growth, despite dwindling external aid and foreign direct investments.
According to the World Bank, remittances helped reduce poverty significantly in the country's eastern region, notably Chittagong, Sylhet and Dhaka, while poverty situation did not improve in the Western region where the remittance inflow was not substantial.
The roundtable sessions will examine the policies and strategies of developing and developed countries, at origin and destination ends, that help to maximise opportunities and minimise the risks of migration for development.
Officials from the UN member states will gather Tuesday in the Belgian capital of Brussels to shed new light on how migration could contribute to development.
The Global Forum on Migration and Development, first of its kind, will be held on July 10-11, preceded by a civil society meeting on July 09, the sources concerned said.
An official at the foreign ministry said Bangladesh will highlight the potentially huge benefits of temporary labour movement and call upon the developed nations to ease the visa schemes for unskilled and semi-skilled workers.
"We'll explain how the movement of workers from the Third World benefits not only the countries like Bangladesh, but also the OECD countries who need blue-collar workers," the official noted.
An estimated 4.0 million Bangladeshis are working abroad who sent home a whopping amount of US$6.0 billion in the last fiscal, thereby eclipsing other forms of external flows such as foreign investment and development aid.
The forum, which will explore the effective linkage between migration policy and development process, is a follow-up to the last year's high-level dialogue on migration sponsored by the United Nations.
"Temporary labour migration can be a flexible way of meeting labour shortages in the richer countries, while lessening the unemployment burdens on the developing world, and spreading the developmental gains of migration more widely," the official said.
Studies say a temporary visa scheme by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries will give economic benefits both to the wealthy and the impoverished nations worth around US$ 150-200 billion a year.
Talking to the FE, a senior foreign ministry official said Bangladesh would be a coordinating partner at the first roundtable exclusively devoted to the temporary labour migration on the concluding day of the forum.
"This session will aim to produce a set of practical policy guidelines for governments of countries of origin and destination to engage with the private sector to the mutual advantage of migrants, host communities, employers and developing economies," he added.
Hamidur Rashid, director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will chair the roundtable in which Marta Altolaguirre, vice foreign minister of Guatemala, Rene Cristobal, president, Manpower Resources of Asia and Syed Saiful Haque of Bangladesh will be the panelists.
An official of the expatriate ministry noted, Bangladeshi delegation will show evidence of development impact of remittances on poverty reduction.
He said the flow of remittances sent home by the country's blue-collar workers enabled the country to sustain its growth, despite dwindling external aid and foreign direct investments.
According to the World Bank, remittances helped reduce poverty significantly in the country's eastern region, notably Chittagong, Sylhet and Dhaka, while poverty situation did not improve in the Western region where the remittance inflow was not substantial.
The roundtable sessions will examine the policies and strategies of developing and developed countries, at origin and destination ends, that help to maximise opportunities and minimise the risks of migration for development.