Bangladesh has suspended the on-arrival visa facility for all eligible countries to prevent "any untoward environment" in the country during the elections.
“We have been instructed because untoward incidents may be created during the elections…unexpected people may come here. They should not come here all of a sudden,” Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain told journalists at the foreign ministry today.
“We are not stopping visas. Let them come with regular visas, not on arrival,” he said when asked about the suspension of on-arrival visas from January 15 to February 15.
Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued guidelines to streamline the entry procedures of foreigners while maintaining security and effective monitoring during the election period.
According to the order, existing visa policies must be strictly followed when issuing all types of visas, including visas on arrival. The verification of required documents and coordination among concerned agencies should also be strengthened, it said.
On the recent conflicts in Rakhine and its spillover into Bangladesh, Touhid said the ministry summoned the Myanmar envoy and protested the incident of firing that injured a child in Teknaf and sought to prevent any such incident in the future.
He said Myanmar government does not recognise the rebel group as a legal entity and thus Bangladesh cannot formally communicate with it.
He said the problem began long ago and is not likely to end anytime soon.
On the reports of Bangladesh and China working on signing a military drone factory in Bangladesh, the adviser said Bangladesh's military capacity needs to be developed, and efforts are underway to achieve this.
“We will not do anything so that the relations with any country deteriorates. We will make a balance,” he said.