Staff Reporter:
Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapon yesterday stressed the need for preparing a realistic roadmap to send skilled manpower to the Europe, saying remittance earners play a vital role in strengthening the national economy.
“Remittances sent by expatriates are one of the driving forces of our economy. The government and rel-evant stakeholders must work together to enhance this flow and create a new labor market abroad,” he said.
The minister made the remarks while speaking at a seminar titled ‘ten lakh skilled manpower in the Eu-ropean labor market: Presentation of the master plan (2026-2031) and ensuring the state rights of expat-riates’ at Jatiya Press Club this afternoon.
Italy-Bangla Shamannay Unnayan Samity and Bangladesh Probashi Unnayan Samity jointly arranged the seminar.
Speaking as the chief guest, Swapon said due to the looting of the fallen government, Bangladesh inher-ited a fragile economy and a huge debt burden. “We do not want to remain inactive by using the mis-takes of the past.”
He said it is very important to increase the scope of remittance income to overcome this situation and make the economy self-reliant.
“To make our leader and state leader Tarique Rahman’s slogan of ‘Bangladesh first’ a reality, the fields of employment and foreign exchange earnings must be given top priority,” he said.
Presenting the current context of foreign exchange earnings, the minister said, “Our main areas of earn-ing foreign exchange are basically two – the ready-made garment (RMG) sector and remittances. Every year, we earn about US$ 40-42 billion from RMG sector and about US$ 20 billion from remittances. But to survive in this import-dependent economy, it is not enough to rely only on these two sectors.”
He put emphasis on expanding the scope of export products and further expanding the export market for employment and human resources abroad to ensure remittance flow.
Highlighting the tourism sector, Swapon said it could become a strong alternative source of foreign ex-change if international-standard infrastructure is developed in areas such as Cox’s Bazar and Kuakata, attracting more foreign visitors.
He said Bangladesh is currently in the golden age of demographic dividend. “We need to send this huge working manpower not only as workers, but also trained with advanced knowledge and skills and send it to the global market,” he added.
Describing expatriate Bangladeshis as ‘ambassadors of the country’, the minister stressed the importance of ensuring that workers abroad maintain discipline and comply with local laws. He also emphasized providing them with language training, skills development and moral guidance.
Director of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) Md Salah Uddin, its Deputy Director Mohammad Ali Mortuza and BNP’s All European unit convener Mohiuddin Ahmed Jhintu also spoke at the seminar with Italy-Bangla Shamannay Unnayan Samity founder president Shah Muhammad Taifur Rahman Choton in the chair.
