One of the inadvertent victims of the Gulf War was the Bangladeshi community working in the Middle East countries, especially those in Kuwait and Iraq. It was indeed a sad plight to see thousands of our workers and professionals being forced to return home for no fault of their own. These Bangladeshis, many of them having spent their last Taka to buy themselves their respective Jobs, in many Instances literally so are now destitutes, looking for new ways to put their life in order.

The Interim government, has finalised a proposal to set up a welfare foundation for the rehabilitation of the repatriated workers. The Manpower Ministry has prepared a project costing Taka 113 crore which will finance selfemployments schemes. According to the scheme government will provide an initial fund of Taka 3 crore to get things going. Of the rest. Taka 88 crore will be borrowed from the banks and Taka 30 crore will come from the beneficiaries themselves.

While we welcome this step, we must hasten to point out that urgent follow-up actions are needed to implement concrete programmes that are likely to benefit the Gulf returnees In the immediate future. What we have so far is a plan to set up a Foundation. The Foundation will then take up schemes, look for possible funding, select the people who will implement them and after all this, and much later the Gulf returnees may start receiving relief. Time is of essence here and we should do everything in our power to expedite the process of putting this scheme into operation.

We support the basic thrust of the project proposal, namely that of generating self employment. The returnees from the Gulf, at whatever level or profession they might have worked in their country of employment, are people who have been exposed to a more dynamic working environment and to relatively advanced technology. The very fact that they left their homes and familiar environments testify to their drive for self improvement and to their capacity to take risks. These special facets of their personalities and background set them apart from others. Let us build on them. Herein the idea of self employment fits well. These people should be given all possible encouragement and opportunities to put into practice the skills they have learnt abroad. Having had a comparatively higher Income these people will have the necessary motivation to work hard enough to generate the same here, thereby contributing to the rise of overall productivity.

We are aware that Bangladesh continues to be essentially a sellers market. Literally everything that is locally produced sells, and sells well. Low and medium level technical items have a large local market, that is currently being filled by imported goods. This is where, we think, the project to rehabilitate the Gulf returnees can fill a useful vacuum.

The intermlnlsterlal committee which will determine the functioning of the Foundation should include in addition to those mentioned in the scheme representatives of the private sector, technical bodies, scientific research bodies and perhaps some marketing experts and of course the representatives of the banks who are expected to fund the lion's share of the project.

The Gulf returnees, because of their special exposure and experience should be considered as assets and not just a new group that swells the ranks of our unemployed. Given an initial help, they may provide a well needed impetus to the local production scene.