Govt wants Foreign missions to be pro-active, effective

Foreign diplomatic missions of Bangladesh in 181 countries of the world are trying to get out of their traditional management systems and express themselves in new form.

According to the new directives given by the government, the Bangladeshi diplomats working in various Bangladesh embassies in foreign countries have to play active and effective role in every aspect. The government wants none of them to show negligence in duties and if negligence is found anywhere, strict action will be taken. The embassies have to take decisions proactively and remain alert over protecting image of the country and avoiding hostile situations. Besides, they’ve to provide feedback and show accountability to Dhaka time to time. According to the top diplomats, this is the approach of government now to the diplomats.

According to the sources of ministry of foreign affairs, already on behalf of the government, foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen conveyed these decisions to the foreign mission abroad. These directives include the clear instruction of Prime Minister. They’ve been asked to protect the image of the country as well as giving importance to economic diplomacy. So, the diplomats were asked to search for the market of multidimensional products, not only depend on garments market. Additionally, they’ve been asked to get out of traditional culture of not picking up the phones of the expatriates. For the sake of the country, foreign missions have to collect the name, contact number and email of all the expatriates. In addition, they’ve been asked to work on Rohingya issue in new form as the immense work of government on this issue haven’t seen expected success.

The foreign missions have been asked to become pre-alert over unfavorable circumstances like sanctions and remain alert over situations created over Russian vessel. One of the major responsibilities of the Bangladeshi foreign missions is to take proper steps to stop anti-government propaganda worldwide.

About providing directives to ambassadors, high commissioners and mission chiefs working in 81 countries, foreign minister Dr AK Momen said, “I’ve held meeting with Bangladeshi ambassadors working in different counties with a view to share next year plan and achievements from last year. I conveyed Prime Minister’s directions regarding building smart Bangladesh. We asked them to know about the process by which various countries became smart. We wanted them to provide report over the invitations to the foreign countries for investing on the resources of Bangladesh in addition to their manpower requirement. We also suggested solving the complaints raised over the quality of service of the embassies. Besides, directions have been given to aggregate all the expatriates upon the announcement of ‘Expatriates Day.’

Foreign minister said, “We asked the mission officials to remain alert on fake information. They’ve been asked to take action proactively without waiting for order of ministry if any such case is found. We hope they will accomplish their responsibilities proactively.”

The minister said, “The embassies didn’t do anything proactively so far. They used to inform us if any good thing is happened, and remain shy when any bad thing took place, let alone taking any steps. The ministry and the embassies were asked to take initiative as a team proactively.”

@The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on January 8 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque