Cabinet okays proposal to open seven new missions abroad

The cabinet on Monday endorsed a proposal to open seven new Bangladesh missions abroad and gave retrospective approval to establishment of 17 missions already established in different countries.
The foreign affairs ministry placed the proposal in the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the secretariat. 
Seven new Bangladesh missions would be established in Kabul in Afghanistan, Khartoum in Sudan, Freetown in Sierra Leone, Bucharest in Hungary, Chennai in India, Sydney in Australia and Toronto in Canada, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told a press briefing after the meeting.
The already established Bangladesh missions given retrospective approval, are in Athens in Greece, Milan in Italy, Mumbai in India, Istanbul in Turkey, Lisbon in Portugal, Kunming in China, Beirut in Lebanon, Mexico City in Mexico, Brasilia in Brazil, Port Luis in Mauritius, Copenhagen in Denmark, Warsaw in Poland, Vienna in Austria, Abuja in Nigeria, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Algiers in Algeria and Guwahati in India.
Out of these missions abroad, Shafiul said, four missions — Bucharest, Brasilia, Warsaw and Sydney — have been reopened freshly.
He said the cabinet also gave final approval to the Nazrul Institute Bill 2017 proposing to increase the number of board members to nine from seven.
Retrospective approval was given for establishment of the missions for complying with provisions of the Rules of Business. 
Missions established in capitals of different countries, in most of the cases, were either embassies or high commissions. Missions established in other cities were deputy high commission, consulate general, assistant high commission and consulate depending on the places., 
It cleared another proposal for Bangladesh to become a party to the ‘Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific,’ the cabinet secretary added.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net