Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said that the annual number of manpower export to different countries of the world would reach 10 lakh annually in the next five years from the present five lakh a year, helping the remittance inflow to double.
“Some 18 lakh new work force join the labour market every year and of them five lakh go abroad. I expect the number of manpower export to reach 10 lakh in the next five years from the existing five lakh,” he said.
The Finance Minister was addressing an International Migrants Day 2012 function held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
Chaired by Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, the function was addressed, among others, by Parliamentary Standing Committee chairman on the ministry Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud as a special guest.
Noting the significant contribution remittance income to the economy, the Finance Minister said the country expects wage earners’ remittance inflow of around $14 billion in the current year.
With the introduction of 30 more training centers of BMET soon, he said, more trained and skilled labour force would be available for export resulting in increased remittance inflow.
As remittance inflow helps keep the country’s foreign currency reserve satisfactory, it is the duty of the government to give something good for the workers staying abroad, Muhith said.
The proposed Expatriates’ Welfare Bank would not be a commercial bank he said and stressed that efforts should be for its clients t get improved services.
Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said some 19,78,150 workers went abroad in the last four years of the present government and remitted $42 billion.
In contrast, he said, some 9,33,797 workers went abroad during the first four years of the tenure of the last BNP-Jamaat government and sent back home $10 billion.
New labour markets have been explored in 80 countries during the tenure of the present government, he said.
Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud asked for a long-term plan to increase manpower export to 50 percent of the annual total supplu of labour force from the existing 25 percent in the next five years.
Related Posts
