New York, 30 March 2023:

"Bangladesh's journey from a war ravaged LDC to a robust development model has been marked by significant contribution of migrants and diaspora" -said Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen while speaking today at a panel discussion entitled, 'empowering diaspora, migrants and displaced persons as development agents' organized by IOM during its 2023 International Dialogue on Migration held at the United Nations Headquarters. 

Putting a spotlight on the whole of society approach for the migration management adopted by the Government of Bangladesh, Foreign Secretary Momen shared experience of Bangladesh in engaging diaspora for mobilizing financial flow, especially through remittance.

As the consumer of the home country products, the diaspora represent a major export market; they contribute in developing business models and support their country by sending  money to the family and businesses they run in Bangladesh, he  added.

Referring to the greater contribution of skilled diaspora to the economic development both at the host and country of origin, Foreign Secretary recommended the policy makers, development partners to collaborate in ensuring greater inclusion of diaspora in policy debates in their host countries, including on issues of official development assistance. He also urged the development partners to nurture the innovative ideas and business models of diaspora and invest more in skills development in developing countries, especially in the field of ICT education. 

Prior to that Ambassador Masud Bin Momen attended at the high-level meeting of the Un General Assembly on ‘zero waste’ as a transformative solution in achieving the sustainable development goals and delivered the national statement of Bangladesh.

Highlighting the various initiatives of the Government of Bangladesh towards zero-waste including the banning of plastic shopping bags in 2022, Foreign Secretary underscored the importance of education, awareness raising, innovation in business policy and behavioral change in achieving the zero-waste objective enshrined in the 2030 development agenda.