Ensure quick services to expats, FM Momen asks DCs

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday (20 January) urged the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to be "more sensitive" in ensuring hassle-free services to the expatriate Bangladeshis in an expeditious way as over 1 crore people of the country live abroad.

"We expect the DCs to be more sensitive on these issues making things easier," he told reporters after attending the third-day session of the DCs' Conference at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium.

Dr Momen said the expatriate Bangladeshis come with some complaints of not getting passports, police clearances, marriage certificates and birth certificates timely apart from losing control over their land in some cases.

They also complained that they do not get required information when efforts are taken to bring back bodies from abroad, said the foreign minister.

"We (MoFA) don't give passports or NID. But we collect those and send them abroad. It gets delayed in some cases which make expatriates dissatisfied. In that case, we expect the DCs to be more sensitive so that all kinds of support to expatriates are expedited," Dr Momen said.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen were also present.