Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Sunday urged Singapore to help recover billions of dollars laundered from Bangladesh and help minimise the cost of migration from the country.
The chief adviser made the call when Singapore鈥檚 ambassador to Bangladesh Derek Loh called on him at his Tejgaon office in Dhaka.
鈥楢 lot of money was siphoned off from Bangladesh to many countries, including Singapore,鈥� Professor Yunus told ambassador Loh as they spoke for about an hour.
He also urged the island nation to work with Dhaka in its goal to significantly cut the cost of recruitment of workers from Bangladesh, according to a press release from the Chief Adviser鈥檚 Office.
Ambassador Loh pledged to cooperate with Dhaka as the chief adviser to the interim government sought cooperation from Singapore, it mentioned.
鈥榃e need full cooperation from Singapore,鈥� said Professor Yunus in the meeting.聽
He said the interim government wants to bring down the cost of migration with a view to helping the country鈥檚 overseas workers remit more money to their families.
鈥榃e can create a model structure with Singapore on reducing recruitment costs,鈥� he said.
Derek Loh too expressed Singapore鈥檚 desire to work with Bangladesh, saying they want to remove rent imposed in the recruitment process.
He suggested Bangladesh digitalise its overseas recruitment system, which will reduce the chances for the workers being exposed to human trafficking and exploitation.
They also discussed trade and investment cooperation, the foreign policy of the interim government, shipping, education, and healthcare of their respective peoples.
Professor Yunus said Bangladesh was now ready for business as the economy making a good recovery just three months after the dictatorship left it in shambles.
鈥業t is a good time to do business here,鈥� the chief adviser said.
Francis Chong, senior director of Singapore鈥檚 Ministry of Trade and Industry, said Bangladesh had proposed a Free Trade Agreement with Singapore back in 2021.
A feasibility study has been completed on the proposed FTA, and both nations will now decide the scope of how to launch a free trade deal negotiation, he said.
Loh said Singapore would be happy to share its expertise on water treatment and waste energy management. He proposed collaboration between the food agencies of both countries.
On the interim government鈥檚 foreign policy, Professor Yunus said his government was pursuing good relations with neighbours and trying to revive the SAARC as a platform to engage more extensively with its South Asian neighbours.
He sought Singapore鈥檚 backing for Bangladesh鈥檚 inclusion as a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN, to which Derek Loh said his country was positive.
The chief adviser said Dhaka has got huge support from its western and eastern allies since the interim government took over charge days after the fall of the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina in face of student-led mass uprising on August 5.
鈥榃e don鈥檛 distinguish between east and west. We have to build bridges everywhere,鈥� the chief adviser told the envoy.
Lutfey Siddiqi, the special envoy to the chief adviser, Lamiya Morshed, Senior Secretary and Principal coordinator of the SDG affairs, and Michael Lee, charge d鈥檃ffaires of Singapore in Dhaka, were also present during the meeting.
Addressing a seminar in the city, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman on November 2 had said that while it was difficult to determine the exact amount of money laundered from Bangladesh, various estimates suggest that an annually average of $12鈥�15 billion was illicitly transferred out of the country in the recent time.
He said available data showed that $17 billion had been transferred through formal channels in recent years but the actual figure could be even higher.
Iftekhar, however, said that Bangladesh had a precedent for recovering laundered money, noting that $9.3 billion was successfully repatriated from Singapore in 2013 as a result of a mutual legal assistance initiative that began in 2007.
