CPD launched the UNCTAD’s Least Developed Countries Report 2012, titled Harnessing Remittances and Diaspora Knowledge to Build Productive Capacities on 26 November 2012 in the CPD office. Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director and Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow of CPD were among the notable panelists of this launching event while Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, Chairman of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), and Professor of the University of Dhaka was invited to present the highlights of the report.
This report had drawn attention to the positive roles that diasporas could play for the economic growth of the least developed countries (LDCs). This could be done through transferring their specialised knowledge and investing in building productive capacities. As the report said about 2 million skilled professionals from the LDCs are living abroad who could potentially act as sources of development finance, channels of knowledge transfer, facilitators of trade and market access opportunities in the host countries.
The report also revealed that remittances constitute a significant source of external financing for the LDCs and it is growing every year. Remittances help sustain livelihoods and contribute towards poverty reduction and create educational opportunities for the family members. However, remittance flows also give rise to inequality and sometimes lead to exchange rate appreciation, the report added.
The report argued that effective policies are required to mobilise the full potential of the diaspora knowledge and benefit through raising the country’s economic productivity. Professor Mustafizur Rahman pointed out that there is a lack of efforts to include the Bangladeshi diasporas in the various economic policies and investment initiatives of the country. Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya stressed on building trust between diasporas and the home country, and to engage and motivate the highly-skilled expatriates with the country’s economic activities. He also urged the government to add the term ‘diaspora’ with the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.
The report recommended pragmatic and context-specific policy approaches to encourage greater participation of the LDCs diasporas in the financial investment in their respective countries to increase the productive capacities of the economy and leverage resources. The report also strongly recommended for reversing the concept of ‘brain drain’ to ‘brain gain’ as the highly-skilled expatriates are the sources of enormous potential for building knowledge network and channeling financial investment.