Bangladesh's Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, Ariful Haque Chowdhury, is set to depart for the United States on Sunday to attend the second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) at United Nations headquarters in New York.

The four-day forum, running from May 5 to 8, serves as the principal intergovernmental platform for reviewing progress on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM), established under UN General Assembly Resolution 73/326.

The Bangladesh delegation will include Ministry Secretary Md Mokhthar Ahmed, while the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, will join the team upon their arrival in New York, a ministry press release said.

According to the ministry, the delegation will participate in a series of round-table discussions during the opening days of the forum, followed by plenary sessions in which Bangladesh will present its position and achievements on migration governance.

The minister and his delegation are expected to depart New York for Dhaka on the evening of May 11.

Bangladesh is one of the world's largest sources of migrant labour, with millions of workers employed across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and beyond. Remittances sent home by overseas workers constitute a major pillar of the country's economy.

The President of the General Assembly will convene the Second International Migration Review Forum at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, preceded by a multi-stakeholder hearing on Monday, 4 May 2026.