Bangladesh launches lounge for millions of migrants at capital’s airport

DHAKA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) — The Bangladeshi government has launched a special lounge for the country’s millions of migrant workers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the capital Dhaka.
Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus inaugurated the lounge on Monday, terming migrant workers “nation builders.” He expressed his hope that the lounge will make their travel easy.
The lounge, the first of its kind at the airport, will offer Bangladeshi migrant workers some space to rest and have subsidized food for refreshments.
More than 14 million Bangladeshis have reportedly gone abroad with jobs since 1976. Bangladesh mainly sends workers to Gulf states and Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia and Singapore to bolster inflow of remittances.
Remittances, one of key sources of foreign exchange for the nation, totaled nearly 9 billion U.S. dollars in the July-October period, central bank data showed. ■