Transform Bangladesh through 'knowledge remittance': NRB conclave

Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) can make a crucial contribution to the country's development through “knowledge remittance”, experts said yesterday.

They spoke at a conclave titled “Transforming Bangladesh through knowledge remittance” held at Le Méridien Dhaka.

Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF) organised the event with an aim to explore models and approaches to engage the NRBs so that they can contribute more to the economy.

Shariful Islam, founder and managing director of BBF, said Bangladesh is now at a very critical stage of development.

The next 10 years will be very vital as well, he said at the event.

“We must apply the most cutting-edge thinking, adopt the latest technology and apply new models to make a quantum jump in development”

“NRBs through knowledge remittance can make a crucial contribution in this journey,” he said.

Around 300 guests, including distinguished NRBs, policymakers, academicians, artists and corporate professionals, attended the event.

Expatriate Bangladeshis sent home $12.77 billion in fiscal 2016-17, down 14.47 percent year-on-year, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

Remittance is a major source of foreign currency for Bangladesh and its descent since fiscal 2015-16 has progressively become a matter of concern for the government.

Speakers said NRBs feel very passionate about Bangladesh and they want to explore avenues to engage themselves more with their homeland.

Lutfey Siddiqi, a visiting professor-in-practice at London School of Economics; Faisal Ahmed, chief economist of Bangladesh Bank, and Humayun Rashid, managing director of Energypac Power Generation, presented three keynote papers at the conclave.

In addition, there were four panel discussions and three insight sessions focusing on Bangladesh's potential and the role of the diaspora.