Bangladesh Minister of State for Planning Shamsul Alam on Sunday said he is in favour of visa-free travel for students in the BBIN countries, as the neighbouring nation strives to become illiteracy-free by 2041. Addressing the valedictory session of the two-day Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence’ conclave here, the renowned Bangladeshi economist also stated that his country will become hunger-free by 2041.
Let us open up doors in the countries for the students. I am not talking about government centres or the scholarship programmes. I am talking about the private sector, too, Alam said. He noted that the South Asia region does not have a visa-free regime like that of the European Union, where no visa is required to visit a country that is part of the block.
But for the students, we can have free access to the educational institutes. Let us allow the students to go freely for education as well as for tourism. We can start with the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) countries, Alam said. Bangladesh has around 50 public and 108 private universities. Its literacy rate increased to 73 per cent from 43 per cent in 2005-06, while life expectancy has risen to 75 years from 65 years a decade ago, he said.
The minister asserted that Bangladesh will enter the league of prosperous or developed nations with a per capita income of USD 16,400 by 2041. The current per capita income of the country is USD 2,824, he said.
We need skilled manpower to cope up with the fourth industrial revolution that is coming up. We have already created a big educational infrastructure,” Alam said.
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