Our top foreign policy priority should be to negotiate the end of the visa ban
We hope the prime minister’s forthcoming visit to the UAE on October 26 will lead to progress on removing the ban on visas to Bangladeshi workers in the UAE.
The UAE is one of the biggest employers of Bangladeshi manpower, accounting at one stage for over 1.2 million workers.
In the last two years, the number of Bangladeshis working in the UAE has been falling with workers from Bangladesh being replaced by workers from competing countries such as Nepal and Pakistan. Their number has reportedly declined closer to around three quarters of a million as the UAE has not issued work visas to Bangladeshi workers since August 2012.
We cannot afford to lose such a major source of the remittance flows which are vital for our economy. Bangladesh Bank recorded remittances of around $14.46bn in FY2012-13, contributing to around 10% of the national GDP. They account for two-thirds of the country’s total foreign exchange reserves and are a key driver for national development efforts.
Unless the ban on visas to Bangladeshi workers is lifted, the falling number of Bangladeshis working in the UAE will eventually have a serious impact on remittances, and on the Bangladesh economy.
The Bangladesh government’s top foreign policy priority should be to negotiate the end of the visa ban.
We hope the top-level visit will bring up this issue and make progress as the country needs to be able to send workers to the UAE.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
