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An evolving global order is disrupting supply systems across countries, prompting a shift from a bipolar world to a multipolar framework, when nations can no longer rely solely on the West and must widen their focus.
Speakers at a function in Dhaka Sunday sounded the alert, and recommended domestic preparations to fit in the de-globalized world order through curricular upgrade focused on skills building.
In such a fragile global environment, creating new employment opportunities will emerge as the biggest challenge in the days ahead, they forewarn.
Business leaders and international analysts made such observations addressing a conference session titled 'Who Owns the Future? Power, People, and the Politics of Hope' on Sunday.
The session was on the second day of the three-day 'Bay of Bengal Conversation 2025' organised by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) at a hotel in the capital, Dhaka, in the wake of paradigm shifts at home and beyond.
Participating in discussion, Apex Footwear Managing Director Syed Nasim Manzur said the global system is undergoing a transformation and countries can no longer afford to look only towards the West. This shift is affecting young people the most.
"Even after graduating, they are not acquiring the skills required. The biggest challenge ahead will be generating new jobs. Yet today's youths are largely fixated their careers targets on three - BCS, banking and going abroad.
"Bangladesh's next major growth sector will be manufacturing, which will require a large number of industrial engineers and technical specialists - but that is not happening," he notes.
He foresees huge mismatch for future young people.
The industrialist observes that Bangladesh's education system remains heavily focused on quantitative outcomes rather than qualitative improvement. "There is no real emphasis on skills development, even though a vast number of jobs today are driven by emerging technologies."
Because of the shortage of skilled workers, companies have often been forced to hire foreign professionals, he told the cutting-edge function. This is happening at a time when nearly two million young graduates enter the job market every year.
He stresses that the government must undertake substantial policy reforms to build a skilled manpower for job market.
Speaking about future risks, Syed Nasim Manzur notes that global fragmentation (de-globalisation) has now emerged as a new threat.
The global system of exchange is also under strain. "In many cases, questions are being raised about human rights, yet in other cases nothing is said at all. There is no rules-based governance either," he remarks about a vacuum in geopolitical arena at large.
Confidence Power and Energy Chairman Imran Karim told the meet that global supply chains were increasingly being disrupted.
"Yes, billionaires may be emerging," he says, "but what we need is a much larger middle class."
Former Maldivian Education Minister Abdullah Rasheed Ahmed indicated that developed countries do not provide funding only to support changes in the education systems of developing nations. "Suddenly, USAID and the Asia Foundation halted their funding."
"If people in these countries become truly empowered," he says, "their dependence on developed nations will gradually diminish."
Kazi Shah Muzakker Ahmadul Hoque, Director of Shah Group and TAS Group, said the recent transformation in the political landscape occurred because people rose up against the previous regime, declaring that they had had enough.
He explains that a small group had long enjoyed all the privileges and benefits, while ordinary citizens felt like second- or even third-class citizens in their own country.
"We are victims of hope," he told the audience, adding that not everything can be restored overnight, though many initiatives are now underway.
He notes that despite being in power for a long time, the previous government had failed to meet public expectations. Their inability to fulfill people's aspirations fuelled the uprising.
The national parliament election approaching, he adds: "If people again feel that the government cannot fulfill their dreams, they will rise and fight back.
"After 20 years of silence, people have taken to the streets - and this will continue to happen."
Judith Mwaniki, director at development programmes consortium for economic research and Development Studies, Kenya, was the moderator of the event, while Veronica Portugal, Founder and CEO, Paideia Civica, Mexico, also spoke.
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