Exploring new overseas job market

Bangladesh Bank proudly displays its foreign exchange reserve, which is sufficient to meet the import requirements of the country for seven  months. This comfortable condition has been prevailing for a pretty long period of time. Credit for it goes to the expatriates of the country who have been remitting their earnings at the expense of their toil and sweat.
Let us first examine the export scenario of Bangladesh.
 Though Bangladesh is known mainly as an agricultural country, its agro products earn 5.0 per cent of the total export income. We are still nurturing a high emotional attachment to jute, because it was once regarded as a 'golden fibre'. It used to earn a hefty sum of foreign exchange due to its high demand abroad. In the sub-continent's pre-partition days, a lot of jute mills were set up in the region, and these mills used to make huge profits, thereby enabling the British rulers to siphon away the wealth of the area.  After the partition, the central government of Pakistan was gaining economically by exporting jute and jute products, depriving the poor farmers in the then East Pakistan of the wealth they deserved. After liberation of Bangladesh, the government laid much emphasis on jute and a separate ministry for it was launched. But by that time global trends had changed, synthetic fibre had all but replaced the natural one. As days passed, jute began facing a stiff competition from its rival products. In spite of honest efforts by the stakeholders, chances for jute's come-back were fading fast. Nowadays, we can only become nostalgic reminiscing about the past glory of the golden fibre.
Once upon a time, our tea was regarded as a prospective export item. It used to earn a significant amount of foreign exchange. But its market is now shrinking. However, Bangladesh has achieved tremendous success in producing food grain. The country is going to be almost self-sufficient in food within a short time. Among the exportable industrial products, the ready-made garment (RMG) and knit-wear items play dominant roles. During fiscal year 2012-2013, these two items fetched for the country 83 per cent of its total export income. Most of the RMG and knit-wear products are exported to European Union (EU) and the USA. Exports to the USA have lately been adversely affected because of the suspension   of its GSP facility for Bangladesh. Both the EU and the USA are quite sensitive about the working conditions    in the exporting countries. Due to a series of tragic accidents in our garment factories, the importers have already put in place certain conditions which are required to be strictly followed.
In the case of some other industrial products, Bangladesh has been facing and will continue to face stiff competition from two big economies --- China and India. In the late eighties of the last century, Bangladesh laid great stress on its toy industry. It made a head way. But ultimately, that industry could not withstand the onslaught of the Chinese products, and it collapsed virtually. It will be difficult   for Bangladesh to stave off the trade-related threat coming from these two Asian giants in so far as industrial products are concerned.
Against this backdrop, we shall have to focus on service industry and the overseas employment sector.  We may offer port facilities to our neighbours like Nepal and Bhutan, and even the north-eastern states of India and the Chinese provinces close to our territory. We may even think of offering transit facilities to our neighbours in different modes of transport, like land and water, subject to a win-win situation.
Coming to the latest health of our foreign exchange reserve, we find that our expatriate workers remitting large amounts of money from abroad have made Bangladesh Bank highly confident. The second half of fiscal year 2012-2013 and also the first half of 2013-2014 witnessed violent political turbulence in the country. In spite of this political unrest, the remittances sent by the expatriates were large in size. Out of the total amount remitted in the fiscal year 2012-2013, ten countries accounted for 88 per cent. The Middle East countries contributed  66 per cent of the total  remittance amount. Saudi Arabia   alone had the share of 26.48 per cent. It is heartening to note that we have excellent relations with the Middle East countries; a lion's share of  our foreign  exchange has long been coming from there.   Twenty per cent of the remittances come from the US and the UK.
In order to see the fledgling economy turn into a strong one, we should concentrate on a broad-based trade policy that includes overseas employment. In the budget speech of the finance minister for fiscal year 2014-2015, it was stated that initiatives have been taken for expanding the overseas labour market. It has been claimed that the present government is sending workers to 159 countries against 97 during the period of the previous government. But the figure shows that the government is yet to make any significant headway in the newly found markets. We shall have to broaden the expatriate workers' market by tapping new destinations. To our woes, the once-booming labour market of Libya has been lost due to the country's prolonged domestic political violence.  Once it was a preferred destination for Bangladeshi expatriates both skilled and unskilled. The present situation in Libya needs no explanation.
Given this reality, we need to look for markets in Africa and also those in Latin America. Our expatriate workers should consist of unskilled as well as professional people like physicians, engineers, accountants and management experts. The task is not for the government alone. The private sector must be taken into confidence while exploring new markets for Bangladeshi workers.

rezaulparvaz@live.com