Millions of migrant workers, including those from Bangladesh, will benefit as the United Nations has taken a decision to reduce the cost of sending remittance by 3%.
“Bangladesh floated the idea in March and due to our intense efforts, we could finally make this breakthrough,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry.
In some parts of the world, the cost of sending remittance is as high as 12-15% of the total remittances while for Bangladesh, it varies from 5% to 6%.
All member countries of the UN engaged in unprecedented negotiations for 17 months to reach a conclusion of having 17 Sustainability Development Goals and 170 associated targets where migration is an essential element.
The negotiations for the SDGs concluded last week and it will be endorsed at the UN General Assembly to be held in New York in September. It will take effect from 2016 for next 15 years as Millennium Development Goals will expire in 2015.
Some global remittance transfer companies charge more than 3% but after endorsement of the SDGs at the UNGA, they will have to reduce the costs.
Bangladesh promoted governance of migration and rights of migrants in the SDG negotiations, the official said, adding that Dhaka played a proactive and leading role in pressing for inclusion of the two key dimensions of migration amid huge resistance.
All the UN member countries finally agreed to enhance global cooperation to facilitate orderly, safe, responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of planned and managed migration policies, he added.
“We fought for the rights of migrant workers, particularly women migrants in terms of promoting safe and secure work environment for all workers,” he said.
There was no reference of migration in the MDGs, but they started building global attention since Dhaka Meeting in March this year, he said.
Officials from 58 developed and developing countries gathered in Dhaka and agreed that the human rights of migrants must be protected and costs of migration as well as transfer of remittances must be lowered.
The meeting also endorsed a set of recommendations to be put forward to the UN Secretary General for discussion in the Open Working Group which concluded last week.
Over eight million Bangladeshis now working in different countries across the world remitted over $14 billion in the last fiscal year.
