After Mrs. Zeenat Ara Bhuiyan, president of the Women's Federation for World Peace, gave the welcome remarks, a message on “Impact of Migration on Families” by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was read by Mr. M. Moniruzzaman, the UN Information Centre reference officer. In the keynote speech, the UN Information Centre officer-in-charge, Mr. Kazi Ali Reza, said that families are primary providers of emotional support as well as material support. He pointed out that around 218 million people have migrated to other countries in search of employment and 780 million people have migrated within their own countries. Separation can have high emotional cost both for those who move and for those left behind.

The chief guest, Prof. Dr. M. Shamsher Ali, vice-chancellor of Southeast University and chairman of UPF-Bangladesh, said that the most important role of the family is to be the school of love and ethics. Through experiences in our families, we learn to embrace and value all relationships in our wider human family. Family breakdown is the root cause of our social ills. Finally he emphasized restoration of “bonds of love” in the broad human family.