E-passport programme inaugurated at Bangladesh Consulate General in New York
The Bangladesh Consulate General in New York has inaugurated the e-passport programme on Friday.
The programme was inaugurated by Md Mokabbir Hossain, Secretary, Department of Security and Services, Ministry of Home Affairs and Sadia Faizunnesa, Consul General of Bangladesh in New York.
Brigadier General Saidur Rahman Khan, Project Director, e-passport and Automatic Border Control and Management Project, senior officials of Immigration and Passport Department, Dhaka, service candidates at the Consulate and embassy staff also participated in the function.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Md Mokabbir Hossain, in his speech, highlighted some of the limitations of previously handwritten and machine-readable passports. He added, "Many developed countries of the world have not yet introduced e-passport and Bangladesh is the first South Asian country to introduce e-passport service."
The Secretary further said that on September 5, 2021, the Bangladesh Embassy inaugurated the e-passport programme in Berlin as the first mission of Bangladesh abroad and the service was launched at the Bangladesh Consulate in New York as the second mission of Bangladesh.
He added that the government has already set up e-gates at Dhaka, Sylhet and Chattogram airports which will make the immigration process of passengers easier.
In her speech, Consul General Sadia Faizunnesa described the day as a very significant day for the Consulate and said that the introduction of e-passport would be considered as a milestone in building a "Digital Bangladesh" based on advanced technology.
