Home adviser Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Wednesday said Bangladesh and Egypt are set to sign the reciprocal visa exemption agreement for the official and diplomatic passports , reports BSS.
He said that the draft of the mutual visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and official passports has been sent to Egypt through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for approval when the Egyptian Ambassador to Bangladesh, Omar Mohie Eldin Ahmed Fahmy, paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Bangladesh Secretariat.
“If the note is approved by Egypt, the agreement will be finally signed. Moreover, the matter of issuing on-arrival visas for ordinary passport holders is also being considered,” he said.
The ambassador assured that Egypt will extend all-out cooperation in this regard.
Apart from this issue, various matters of mutual interest including the law and order, security, police training, prevention of illegal immigration and human trafficking, countering transnational terrorism, exchange of intelligence information, mutual legal assistance, exchange of experience on border security, were also discussed.
Mentioning that the best police training academy in the African continent is located in Egypt, the ambassador said, “Egypt can assist Bangladesh in training and capacity building of the police.”
Moreover, Egypt is interested in cooperating with Bangladesh in the security sector, he said.
Jahangir said that in addition to cooperation in the field of security, the two countries can sign agreements on preventing illegal immigration and human trafficking and mutual legal assistance.
When the ambassador asked about the biggest security threat to Bangladesh at present, the adviser said that there is no major security threat to Bangladesh at present.
However, Rohingya refugees are one of the main obstacles and security concerns in Bangladesh’s security, he said.
“Some Rohingyas are creating security problems at the border,” he said, calling on Egypt to provide financial assistance for the rehabilitation of the Rohingyas and moral support for their repatriation.
Senior Secretary of Home Ministry Nasimul Ghani, Joint Secretary (Political-1) of the Public Security Division Md. Jasim Uddin Khan, Director General of the Africa Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs BM Jamal Hossain and other concerned officials were present in the meeting.