Stranded Bangladeshis to be brought back, if required: Momen

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on Thursday said Bangladesh will bring back its nationals stranded in different countries due to deadly coronavirus pandemic whenever the situation permits, reports news agency BSS.

“If required, we will bring back them (Bangladeshi nationals)… Wherever we are getting the chances, we are bringing them back home,” he told newsmen after holding an inter-ministerial meeting at the foreign ministry.

Momen said it has been difficult to bring back Bangladesh citizens from India as the neighbouring country remains in a nationwide lockdown, scheduled to end after 14 April.

Earlier, the foreign ministry declared that 2,500 Bangladeshi nationals are now stranded in India.

Momen said they are keeping in touch with all Bangladesh missions abroad for ensuring welfare of the expatriate Bangladeshis.

Expatriate welfare and overseas employment minister M Imran Ahmed and state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam, state minister for disaster management and relief Enamur Rahman and secretaries to the relevant ministries were also present at the meeting.

During the meeting, Momen said they decided that the government will send letters to different countries expressing Dhaka’s gratitude for their help to Bangladesh missions and expatriate Bangladeshis.

The letters will be jointly signed by the Bangladesh foreign minister and expatriate welfare minister.

Momen said they decided to take some specific steps for minimising the sufferings of the expatriate Bangladeshis in different badly corona-hit countries around the world.

Besides, the foreign minister said, they also discussed proposals of some countries over sending expert medical teams and COVID-19 treatment equipment to Bangladesh to help the government’s ongoing efforts in containing the virus outbreak.

Earlier on Sunday, after holding another inter-ministerial meeting with expatriate welfare ministry, the foreign minister said some four to five Middle Eastern countries along with Maldives have informed the government that many Bangladeshi workers have become jobless there due to COVID-19 pandemic.

He said those countries expressed their concern over the fate of mainly the undocumented Bangladeshi workers there and urged Dhaka to take them back home.