Manpower training can raise remittance five-fold in a decade

If Bangladesh's migrant workers can be turned more efficient through proper training, it will increase yearly remittance inflow from the current $21 billion to $100 billion in a decade, said experts recently.

This is attainable, on condition that Bangladesh takes the matter seriously to transform the country's youth considering the large number of skilled manpower that will be required to meet global demand in a post-Covid-19 world, they said.

The remarks came at a dialogue organised by Bangladesh Foreign Employment Council (BFEC) at Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka. Foreign Affairs Minister AK Abdul Momen, chief patron of the BFEC, was present.

A BFEC Patron Team presented a plan to increase remittance inflow by improving the contribution of semi-skilled and skilled workforce.

"The ratio of blue-collar workers to white-collar skilled workers is currently around 98 per cent. We, from the BFEC, strongly believe that we can definitely change that ratio within the upcoming few years if we all work together on this jointly," said BFEC President M Nayeem Hossain.

Shehzad Munim, managing director of BAT Bangladesh, Md Miarul Haque, managing director at DHL Express Bangladesh, Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, MD Mahbub Ur Rahman, CEO of HSBC Bank, and Tanvir A Mishuk, managing director of Nagad, were present.