The government's decision to include the Bangladeshi diaspora as an official stakeholder, at a policy level, to build a prosperous and developed Bangladesh is absolutely welcome. Such initiatives will not only reinforce the strength of the Bangladeshi identity across the world, it will also help with functional tasks such as mitigating the effects of the rising brain drain that our country has been undergoing for a number of years now.
It is no secret that some of our brightest people choose to live and settle abroad. While such freedom is fundamental for our individual well-being, it is important that the Bangladeshi identity is still kept alive through our expats.
Even during the Liberation War, a sizable portion of the relief effort was spearheaded by members of our diaspora, and it is pertinent that we include this vast number of expatriates in our overall development goals.
This is also a more effective way to battle brain drain -- given the pull factor of destinations such as North America and Europe, by instilling a sense of identity we can influence our expatriates to think about collective development as well as their individual goals.
The government deserves plaudits for choosing to include our expats in such a meaningful way when it comes to the continued development of Bangladesh, but it needs to be properly implemented. While the policy talks about making it easier to send remittances, it needs to be put into practice. The lives of our expatriate workers have to be made easier overall, as such positive support systems will influence people to contribute to our collective development.
Given the globalized times we are living in, we cannot stop people from leaving our country to pursue their individual happiness. What we can do is make sure they take Bangladesh with them.