BANGLADESH

Chittagong has again come out on top of the districts that exported manpower last year, sending more than 73,000 workers abroad –nearly twice the figure of the previous year.

Officials have dubbed the trend 'a positive sign' amidst the ongoing global recession, as remittance sent in by non-resident Bangladeshis constitutes a large section of the country's total earnings.

Records of Chittagong's employment and manpower office show that 40,000 workers, including 29,000 who registered with the district office, went abroad in 2010.

In 2011, the number hiked to 73,433, including 122 women, of which 53,481 registered at the district office, while the rest enlisted with the central office of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) in Dhaka.

"Chittagong's contribution to the country's total manpower export is 568,000. Most of these workers come from Chittagong," the district office's assistant director Jahirul Alam Majumder told .

He added that the coastal district had also contributed the highest to the total of 390,000 last year.

A total of 388,496 workers went to different countries including those of the Middle East from the coastal district from January 2004 to December 2011.

Nearly 1.5 million from Chittagong are working abroad currently. Most of them are in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

According to the Bangladesh Bank website, the total remittance received from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK, Kuwait and the USA was the highest during the first half of the current fiscal. The district office of BMET, however, failed to give information about Chittagong workers' contribution to the earning.

"The size of exported manpower was nearly 850,000 in 2007-2008. Though the export was decreasing for the global economic crisis, it started rising recently," Chittagong University professor Moinul Islam, also the former president of Bangladesh Economic Association, told .

"It's helpful for the national economy. Hopefully the upward trend will continue," he added.

According to the Bangladesh Bank, the total remittance inflow was approximately $ 6.07 billion during the first half of the current fiscal (July-December) while the amount was $5.5 billion during the same period last fiscal year.

Prof Islam said most of the workers going abroad now are unskilled and less skilled manpower. "If we can send half-trained, fully-trained and professional workers and encourage them to remit through legal process, the remittance will increase more."

"Maximum workers from Chittagong manage visa through personal contacts or relative-neighbours in stead of government channel," BMET assistant director Jahirul said, dubbing the coastal area as 'the district of expatriates'.

The BMET says new opportunities to export manpower in different countries including Malaysia, Iraq and Lebanon, through government channels will be created this year.