How about a Ministry of NRB Affairs?

Let me define my terms. Most migrant workers are on temporary work visas and will eventually return home. In contrast, the NRBs are Bangladeshis who have, for the most part, emigrated and settled abroad, and are living and raising their children there.

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However, even those Bangladeshis who have scrimped and saved and sacrificed to get out of the country often retain a fondness for the homeland that they have worked so hard to leave.

They read Bangladeshi newspapers on-line, celebrate February 21, eat in Bangladeshi restaurants and shop at Bangladeshi stores, and remain keenly interested in what goes on in their home country.

Many are very successful. They work as tenured university professors and bankers, as IT professionals and doctors, as lawyers and social workers. They own restaurants and grocery stores. Even those pursuing more humble avocations such as driving cabs or selling fruit are often able to do quite well for themselves and their families.

Having spent almost my entire adult life in North America, I have come across countless fellow Bangladeshis in the most improbable places and doing the most improbable things. By and large, the NRBs are another success story, of whose achievements and accomplishments we can and should be proud.

Now that so many of them have become comfortable and established, their thoughts turn invariably to their homeland. Even those of modest means think in terms of what they can do for their country.

Of course, this is by no means a unique phenomenon. Emigrants, especially Asian emigrants, typically do retain an attachment and closeness to their ancestral homeland, and the urge to somehow become involved and to better the lot of those left behind is a common one.

The Chinese foreign investment boom has largely been led by the overseas Chinese community which is very wealthy and influential, and to this day the majority of foreign direct investment in China, ushering in huge changes in the country and economy, has been provided by the overseas Chinese.

India and Pakistan are two other examples of countries whose non-resident communities have played a significant role in domestic affairs.

Much of the funding and intellectual support for the BJP in India came from the NRI community, which is every day becoming more and more integrated into the mainstream of Indian life.

The NRIs have led India's foreign investment boom, and they have been at the fore-front of the transfer of technology and import of expertise and management skills that has made India what it is today. Even the opening up of the economy can in part be credited to the influence of the NRIs.

The Indians have been very smart about this. They even have a Ministry of NRI Affairs. to help facilitate the re-integration into the country. If you want to invest or come back home with your family, the ministry is there to help you with the process.

Less remarked, but equally interesting, is the impact of the non-resident Pakistanis on Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan has gone Indian one better by bringing in as prime minister not one but two NRPs who had spent the vast bulk of their adult lives outside Pakistan.

The main economic impact of the NRPs was felt after 9/11, that precipitated an exodus of talent and funds back to Pakistan. The Pakistan economy was the beneficiary. The recent boom in the housing and financial markets can largely be ascribed to this phenomenon.

Bangladesh needs to do the same thing. We need to bring in the NRB community as our development partners. Many NRBs would like nothing more than to reconnect with their homeland. Their financing could precipitate an investment boom. Their skills could be crucial to building the economy.

We need to set up a Ministry of NRB Affairs to tap into their talent, their expertise, their management skills, their money, and, most importantly, their patriotism.

If NRBs want to return home, there should be a ministry to facilitate this, to help them find a the right spot for their talents, a place to live, good schools for their children, preferential banking and tax arrangements.

We need to roll out the red carpet for them if we want their skills and their cash. One idea would be to create some kind of a foundation whereby NRB funds can be targeted and channeled, both into the private and the public sector.

Finally, the NRBs deserve a seat at the table. Many are highly trained professionals with experience and ability. They are educated and open, and creative and progressive in their outlook, and have much to offer..

Most importantly, they often remain fiercely patriotic and want more than anything else to be involved. They can help kick-start not only our economy but our society as well.

The NRBs are a superb resource whose talents are not being utilised. These are people who want to and can be of immense assistance to the country's development, but there is no policy or structure in place to facilitate this.

As is often the case in Bangladesh, it is not that we do not have the resources, but that we are making pitiful use of the vast resources we do have at our disposal.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.