Defence ties, visa key agenda

Bangladesh and Canada have discussed ways to explore new horizons to enhance the bilateral relationship in multifarious aspects.
Bangladesh highlighted the importance of “facilitating and expediting” student visas as well as visas for both serving and former military officials.
The discussions also paved the way for “enhanced” defence cooperation, particularly in expanding training exchanges between military institutions. The issues were discussed during army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman’s visit to Canada.
He was received by Ajit Singh, director of the Privy Council Office of Canada and High Commissioner-designate of Canada to Bangladesh, upon his arrival in Ottawa on October 23.
The army chief met with Lieutenant-General Stephen R Kelsey, vice chief of the Defence Staff of Canada, and Salma Zahid, vice-chair of the Canada-Bangladesh Parliamentary Friendship Group and Member of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, in Ottawa.
Salma Zahid met with Waker-Uz-Zaman on October 23 and discussed areas of mutual interests.
In particular, the army chief highlighted the importance of facilitating and expediting student visas for Bangladeshis as well as visas for both serving and former military officials.
He highlighted the interim government’s priority of youth development and sought Canada’s assistance in this regard by facilitating more student visas citing the mutual benefits for both the countries.
Salma Zahid acknowledged the challenges in this regard due to Canada’s existing housing shortage.
She encouraged Bangladeshi students to apply to designated institutions in Canada for expeditious visa processing and reaffirmed her commitment to finding solutions to address the current limitations on foreign student admissions.
The exploration of joint collaboration in educational exchange programmes and the potential signing of an MoU between Canadian and Bangladeshi universities were also discussed.
In addition, they discussed opportunities for cooperation in agriculture and infrastructure development.
In a separate meeting with Lieutenant-General Kelsey, Waker-Uz-Zaman advocated for streamlining visa processing for both serving and retired Bangladeshi military personnel.
He emphasised the need for a systematic approach for visa issuance and proposed to address individual cases if there are queries through bilateral consultations without generalising or stereotyping, according to the Bangladesh High Commission in Canada.