National roadmap essential to enhance manpower export

It’s good news that Japan will recruit one lakh Bangladeshi workers over the next five years to help address its labour shortage. For this, Bangladesh must implement a comprehensive national roadmap as manpower export requires skill development through targeted training with international standard.

Bangladesh and Japan have a long-standing friendly, cooperative and mutually respectful relationship. Japan recognized Bangladesh on February 10,1972, after the country’s independence and that same year, diplomatic relations were established between the two states. Since then, Japan has been one of the Bangladesh’s closest development partners.

Meanwhile, a 23-member delegation from Japan’s National Business Support Combined Cooperatives (NBCC) briefed the government on the progress of the recruitment process at a meeting held at the State Guest House Jamuna in the capital on Monday.

NBCC is a Japanese business federation of over 65 companies that recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh to facilitate the recruitment of skilled Bangladeshi workers. Around one lakh workers will be hired under this program like the Specified Skilled Workers (SSWO).

It is to be noted that Japan has been contributing to Bangladesh’s human resource development and education sector. Every year, many Bangladeshi students and researchers get opportunities for higher education and research at various universities in Japan. Japanese language education, cultural exchange, and technical training programs are increasing the closeness between the people of the two countries.

Migrant workers are an important pillar of the economy in various developing countrie around the world, including Bangladesh. These migrant workers not only provide a means of livelihood for themselves, but also make a huge contribution to their respective countries’ economy.

The money our migrant workers send, or remittances, is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for Bangladesh. The money sent by workers working abroad is enriching our foreign exchange reserves. From these reserves, the government is able to meet the costs of various international commercial debts, loan repayments, and imports of goods.

Remittances often maintain the stability of the country’s currency and maintain the value of the currency and helps control import costs. Remittances also provide new impetus to the rural economy. When workers abroad send money back to their families, families use that money to buy land, build houses, invest in agriculture, or start small businesses.

Again, remittances dependent on the Middle East sometimes put the economy at risk. When political instability occurs in the Middle East or other regions, the flow of remittances decreases.Therefore, we should create a roadmap in this regard so that this sector can be further expanded.