Saeed bin Hajar Al Shehi, UAE Ambassador to Bangladesh, has inaugurated the fourth consular section and visa issuance centre outside UAE in a ceremony in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, in the presence of Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh's State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Elham Al Dhaheri, Assistant Under-Secretary for Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), and a number of ambassador and senior Bangladeshi officials.

In his opening remarks, the UAE ambassador highlighted efforts being made by the Government of the UAE to develop bilateral ties, saying the inauguration of the centre was a historic milestone in the UAE-Bangladesh ties.

Al Dhaheri said the new visa centre serves more than 600 people every day and uses passport authentication and biometrics such as fingerprints, eye prints and face prints, and medical tests conducted at 34 Bangladeshi centres accredited by the UAE Ministry of Health, in order to identity, and prevent entry of individuals with contagious diseases.

The procedures, he added, will save costs of recruitment, quarantine and deportation and improve customer service as they are aimed at providing excellent consular services fulfilling internationally recognised standards as well as the Cabinet's seven-star service standards.

Through the new visa issuance centre, MoFA will provide all relating administrative services in co-operation with the Ministry of Interior (MoI), using a fully-integrated electronic system within an advanced framework of security controls aimed at achieving maximum protection for visa and entry procedures.

The MoFA, he revealed, was planning to open 16 visa issuing centres.

In attendance were Amna Al Hammadi, Deputy Director of Communication Department, MoFA, a number of MoI officials, Abdullah Khamis Al Hassan, Director of the centre and Mohammed Omran, Bangladeshi Ambassador to the UAE.