Shamsul Alam, Bangladesh Minister of State for Planning stated that he is in favour of visa-free travel for students in the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (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 Bangladeshi economist also mentioned 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.
Alam 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 countries,” Alam added.
According to Alam, Bangladesh has around 50 public and 108 private universities. Its literacy rate increased to 73% from 43% in 2005-06, while life expectancy has risen to 75 years from 65 years a decade ago. The minister further asserted that Bangladesh will enter the league of prosperous or developed nations with a per capita income of $16,400 by 2041.
“The current per capita income of the country is $2,824. 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.
With inputs from PTI.
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