Dhaka. Taking an important step towards improving relations with India, Bangladesh has announced the resumption of tourist visa service for Indian citizens. Bangladeshi diplomatic missions in India will resume issuing tourist visas from Monday, a Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday.
According to media reports, the Bangladesh government had earlier temporarily stopped tourist visa services due to security reasons. However, now that the situation has become normal after the recent elections, this service is being fully restored. The official clarified that tourist visas were not formally stopped completely, but were being issued only in limited and urgent cases.
Service will start again in these cities
Apart from the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, the tourist visa process will start normally from Monday in the missions located in Guwahati, Agartala, Mumbai and Kolkata. According to the official, other categories of visas were already being issued, but tourist visas are now being reinstated on a large scale. The Foreign Ministry official said that this decision has been taken after reviewing the situation and now all types of visa services will be available regularly.
It was told that in view of the elections held in Bangladesh on February 12, instructions were given to suspend tourist visa services from January 15 to February 15. During that period, visas were being issued only in urgent cases. Services to Bhutan and Nepal were also temporarily halted due to security reasons.
sign of improvement in relationships
Experts believe that this step is a positive sign towards strengthening general diplomatic and people-to-people contacts between India and Bangladesh. This will have a direct impact on tourism, business and family travel.