Foreign ministry team to visit Toronto in January to finalise consulate details

Nayem Uddin Ahmed, who has been designated as the first consul general of the new mission, told bdnews24.com on Sunday that the foreign office team is likely to visit Toronto on the third week of January.

"Everything will be finalised at that time - from renting a office space to houses for the officials," he said by telephone.

Nayem is currently serving as the minister of the Bangladesh High Commission in Canada.

He also confirmed the media report that Dhaka is expected to open the new consulate by March this year to serve the sizeable number of Bangladeshi expatriates living in the country’s largest city of nearly six million people.

"This will be a vibrant mission as a large number of expatriate Bangladeshis are living in Toronto and nearby areas," Nayem, a seasoned diplomat said.

"I will try to do my level best to serve the community there," he added. 

Previously, Nayem served in Bangladesh’s permanent mission in Geneva and at the embassy in Ankara.

He also worked as deputy chief of protocol in Dhaka and as political counsellor at the embassy in Washington DC.

His father, late Giasuddin Ahmed, was a freedom fighter and a retired secretary to the government of Bangladesh.

There is no exact count of the number of Bangladeshi expats living in Canada, but according to Ottawa's Bangladesh High Commission, the number is approximately 100,000. Some 80 percent of those are living in Ontario.

The Bangladeshi expat community is happy with the decision of opening the consulate as they would be able to avoid 450 kilometres travel to Ottawa to have the consular services.

Until recently, the high commission used to send its officials to Toronto around once every six months to provide those services.

Earlier, Bangladesh High Commissioner in Ottawa, Mizanur Rahman, during the Victory Day celebrations last month, said the government has approved a consulate in Toronto which will be opened by the first half of 2018.