‎Greek team in Dhaka to clear 800 Bangladeshis visas

File Photo

Imtiaz Ahmed: Over the years, Bangladeshi diplomats have been working hard to speed up the visa process of some European countries that have  no missions in Dhaka, sources said.
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‎Bangladesh has been in constant engagement with some of the European countries to open up consular services in Dhaka in a bid to speed the visa process, reduce hassles and cut expenses, sources said.
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‎Countries like Poland, Romania and Portugal, Greece have either no missions or consular services in Bangladesh that only increases hassles of Bangladeshi passport seekers.
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‎Bangladeshis who intend to visit Poland, Romania, Portugal and Greece have to visit India twice to give passports and relevant documents to the above missions in New Delhi and get visas of the relevant countries
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‎As India has tightened the tourist visas in case of Bangladeshi tourists after August 5, 2024, the sufferings of Bangladeshis increase manifolds, sources said .
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‎After repeated requests of the Bangladesh government, the government of Greece has sent a consular team in Dhaka to clear over 800 visas of different categories of Bangladeshis visa seekers.
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‎The Greece team is working in Dhaka and will clear over 800 visas of students and workers of family reunion, foreign ministry sources said.
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‎Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s economic engagement with  East European countries is expected to get momentum in the coming days as Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus in December 2024 held a constructive and meaningful meeting with the  EU diplomats based in Dhaka and New Delhi, and sought their participatory cooperation in some urgent issues relating to Bangladeshis.
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‎Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus  called upon the European Union (EU) to relocate its visa centres for Bangladeshis from Delhi to Dhaka or to any other neighbouring country.
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‎He made the call when a 19-member EU delegation, led by Michael Miller, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh, met him at the Chief Adviser's Office in Tejgaon here.
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‎During the meeting, chief adviser said as India has restricted visas for Bangladeshis, many students are unable to go to Delhi to get visas for EU countries.
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‎As a result, he said, uncertainty has arisen about their educational careers, while universities in Europe are not getting Bangladeshi students.
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‎“If the visa office is shifted to Dhaka or any neighbouring country, both Bangladesh and the European Union will be benefitted,” he added.
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‎As many as 15 EU diplomats presented their views in the meeting that lasted for two and half hours.
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‎The chief advisor also mentioned the exchange of views with representatives of different political parties and religious communities of Bangladesh held aiming to forge a national unity and maintaining communal harmony.
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‎Foreign Affairs Advisor  Md. Touhid Hossain, who participated the meeting said Bulgaria has already shifted its visa centre for Bangladeshis to Indonesia and Vietnam. He urged other countries to follow the same process.
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‎The EU representatives expressed their full support to the chief adviser in the reform process and vowed to stand by him in the goal of building a new Bangladesh by providing advice and recommendations
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‎Meanwhile, though Bangladesh is working to increase engagement with East European countries through export of goods and manpower, as of now the engagement with that region is still low compared to the expectation of the stakeholders concerned, sources  said.     
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‎Bangladesh exports are mainly consented to some west European Union countries like Germany, France, Italy, Spain and UK while export to rest of the European countries are less compared to expectations of the Bangladesh government, sources in the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
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‎As population in the European Union including East European countries are decreasing, the Bangladesh government took up a project named ‘Talent Partnership’ with the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to help migrate 3,000 Bangladeshis to European countries, sources in Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).
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‎Former Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) and incumbent Director of East West Human Resource Center Ltd. Ali Haider Chowdhury while talking to this correspondent said that the Bangladesh government should engage with EU countries to open consular service in  Dhaka to speed  up the migration process.
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‎Despite demand in the labour market in EU countries, Bangladesh can’t send required workers to EU countries as countries concerned have no consumer service in Bangladesh.
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‎Ali Haider Chowdhury said that the Bangladesh government should engage talks with EU countries to launch consular service in Dhaka as intending Bangladeshi workers need to go to New Delhi to get a Schengen visa.  He said even getting an Indian visa  is time consuming and sometimes the visa requests are rejected by the  High Commission of India. He said even after getting an Indian visa, an intending visa seeker has to stay one month in New Delhi to process his her EU visa.
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‎While talking to this correspondent, a high official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the government of Bangladesh can construct high-rise condominiums at Gulshan and offer to East European countries to set up their mission or consular services.
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‎As running a mission in Bangladesh is highly expensive, no east European country has not opened a mission in Dhaka.
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‎Source said that the eastern EU member states like Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia have no mission or consular service in Dhaka.
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‎A Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) official while talking to this correspondent said that the Bangladesh government still has some land properties at Gulshan that it can offer to some European countries to set up missions or consular services.  In recent times, the Embassy of Italy handed the possession of the Gulshan land property to the Bangladesh government.
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‎In Dhaka (At Baridhara), Germany and France have shared the same building to run their mission. A Mofa official said some European countries including eastern EU member states will be interested to set up missions or consular services if land properties or condominiums are offered to them, said a Mofa official.
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‎The house rent at Gulshan and Baridhara is highly expensive and lifestyle is also as expensive as in European countries, said a Bangladesh diplomat who works in an EU country.
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‎Meanwhile, Bangladesh has some missions in some East European countries like   Warsaw in Poland, Bucharest in Romania, Moscow in Russian Federation, Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Ankara in Republic of Turkey.
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‎Meanwhile, the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Bangladesh and the International Labour Organization (ILO) on July 8, 2024 signed an agreement for the Talent Partnership Project, which will facilitate safe and regular migration of skilled workers from Bangladesh to EU Member States to help meet growing skilled labour shortages in EU Member States.
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‎The growth model of the eastern EU member states (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) will be heavily affected in the coming years by the region’s population trends. Some of these countries, such as Latvia and Bulgaria, are among the worst globally in terms of population decline. Declining populations in this region will drag on countries’ economic growth potential and will increasingly force governments to address labour shortages, through policies such as increases in pension ages and relaxation of immigration rules. Declining populations will place eastern EU member states at a stark disadvantage compared with other emerging markets and will be the single largest drag on long-term growth.