Maldives is shutting down its mission in Dhaka on Tuesday, nearly six years after opening it.
Its acting high commissioner Ahmed Adil on Monday told journalists that they had to take the decision following the country’s “unprecedented fiscal problems”.
“Even the foreign ministry’s budget has been slashed by 40 per cent,” he said, “It’s a very big cut.”The island nation opened its mission in Dhaka in July 2008, ten years after Bangladesh opened its mission in Male.
Adil said the “excellent” bilateral relations would continue and they would work out alternative arrangements to carry it forward in the absence of the mission in Dhaka.
He said their national debt was more than 60 per cent of the total GDP.
“We had no other option but to close (the mission).”
Adil said more than 70 per cent of their 111,000 expatriate workers in Maldives are from Bangladesh.
At least 40 Bangladeshi doctors are working in Maldives government hospitals which he described as “very significant”.
Maldives launched direct flight to Bangladesh on Nov 15, 2012.
It helped increase the bilateral trade which is picking up, he said.
Bangladesh exports mostly fruit juices and biscuits to Maldives.
Adil said Bangladeshis would not need visa as “we give tourists visa on-arrival”.
With the closure of Maldives mission, Dhaka now has 47 foreign missions, according to the foreign ministry.-bdnews24.com
