Bangladeshi expatriates in Europe have said high cost of sending money and dearth of investment opportunities at home are discouraging them to remit more.
They also said as remittance contributes greatly to the socio-economic development of the country, the expatriates should be encouraged to send money to Bangladesh.
They were speaking at a conference titled 'Remittances and Expatriates: Development of Bangladesh' in The Hague, Netherlands recently. The Netherlands-based migrants' organisation BASUG (Bangladesh Support Group) organised the conference.
The aim of the conference was to make Bangladeshis living in Europe to be aware of the better and effective investment of their hard earned money in Bangladesh and to draw attention of Bangladeshi authorities to attract European Bangladeshi investment in their country of origin.
Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Netherlands Ismat Jahan, who inaugurated the conference, said Bangladesh has taken a number of steps, including setting up of a separate ministry, to encourage remittance through proper channels.
Representatives of donor agencies in the Netherlands, professionals, and academics also attended the conference supported by Oxfam-Novib, ICCO and Seva Network Foundation.
Radj Bhondoe, director of Seva Network Foundation, Leila Rispens-Noel, programme officer of Oxfam-Novib, Ahmed Ziauddin, convener of Asian Network for International Criminal Court and Bikash Chowdhury Barua, BASUG president, also spoke.
Remittances are now being considered as one of the key contributors to poverty reduction in developing countries like Bangladesh.
The conference also discussed topics and issues of remittances, means of transfer, utilisation of remitted amount in investment, economic activities, migration policy, rights of the migrants and the UN convention on the protection of rights of all migrant workers and members of their families.
