Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan and Dr Mahendra P Lama, a professor of South Asian Economies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, made the suggestion at a regional workshop on Population Movements: non-traditional issues in South Asian Security Discourse.

Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) of Dhaka University in support of The Ford Foundation organised the workshop at Brac Inn in the city.

Referring to the benefit of India-Nepal open border policy, Professor Sobhan said, "Labour forces will move to the destinations where they are required and will return home at the end of work."

Chairing a session of the workshop, Professor Sobhan urged all to work to place the labour force of the region in proper sectors so that they can contribute to the economies.

"There is a strong potential for integrated labour market in South Asia and now the governments of the region have to decide on how the potentials are to be harnessed," Mahendra P Lama told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview. He insisted on opening up the borders of the neighbouring countries.

The entire issue of border should be looked at from a broader perspective, not from security-centred perspectives, he said, adding: "Ultimately there has to be a South Asian economic union and its basic premise is free flow of all factors of production, including labour, technology and capital."

Referring to the Nepal-India open border policy, he said there were no problems in the two countries, as the nationals of those cross without visas for trade and other purposes.

Forces, especially the security concerns, which advocate for closures of border, go against the realities in the era of globalisation, Lama, an internationally renowned economist, said.

Putting aside the security threats relating to migration, he observed that the reality is people of the South Asian countries are crossing borders to find their own ways of survival and none can stop it by tightening borders.

Referring to Japan's annual demand of 6.5 lakh labour force, both the economists said that the South Asian nations should avail of the opportunity through educating the workforce to cater to the needs of that country.

The Japanese entrepreneurs can make massive investment in education sector in the countries like Bangladesh and Nepal and there can be bilateral agreements in this regard, said Professor Rehman Sobhan.

There is a shortage of labour in Japan, Korea and Thailand and the labour force from Bangladesh and other South Asian countries can fill up the gap, he added.

In her presentation on perceived Bangladeshi domestic workers in Delhi, RMMRU Chairperson Dr Tasneem Siddiqui said labour movement through informal routes from Bangladesh to India is now being labelled as security threats.

At one level it is argued that such movement is putting pressure on the economy of the host regions, while at another level it is viewed as a national security threat with migrants being identified with providing cover to foreign intelligence operatives, bomb blasts, terrorism and weapons of trafficking.

The governments and media exaggerate such views, Dr Siddiqui said, suggesting that the challenges that migration throws to the states should be addressed through recognition of the existence of an integrated labour market in the region and pragmatic policies should be formulated to address these.

Professor Amitav Acharya of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Dr Jagannath Adhikari of Nepal Institute of Development Studies, Dr Sumaiya Khair of Dhaka University (DU) presented keynote papers, while Professor Asif Nazrul and Dr Borhan Uddin Khan of Law Department of DU and Dr Shahdeen Malik of Brac University took part in the discussion.