2024-07-30 15:35:50
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmood officially handed over the ‘Instrument of Accession’ on behalf of the country at the Apostille Convention accession ceremony in the Netherlands.
On Monday (July 29), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Bangladesh became a party to the ‘Convention on Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization of Foreign Public Documents’ or Apostille Convention-1961 through this ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands on Monday at noon local time in The Hague, the capital of the Netherlands. As a result, the documents attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country will not need to be re-attested in other countries and the Bangladeshis going abroad will save an estimated Tk 500-600 crore every year.
At the beginning of the program, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands welcomed Minister Hasan Mahmood. The Foreign Minister in his speech explained the necessity and immediate benefits of this agreement for the citizens of Bangladesh.
He said, from now on, the public documents which had to be authenticated by the traditional method in the case of admission and employment abroad for students, professionals and immigration aspirants, can be done faster, easier and cheaper.
Joining this convention is a landmark step for Bangladesh and it will benefit the country’s students the most, Hasan Mahmud said, noting that it will result in the issuance of electronic Apostille Certificates through the e-APP or Electronic Apostille Program system, whose authenticity and correctness will be verified by the QR code on the certificate. Can be verified from anywhere in the world. This will reduce various types of harassment and suffering of students and professionals going abroad.
The foreign minister also said that if you use the apostille certificate issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your country, you will not have to go to foreign embassies or foreign ministries or any other foreign authorities for verification by spending labor and money. This will save approximately 500-600 crores of Bangladeshis going abroad every year.
At present, various documents (e.g. academic certificate, birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc.) of citizens going abroad and staying abroad for various reasons including taking higher education in foreign universities, applying for jobs, settling abroad, marrying with foreign citizens, need to be verified by multiple authorities. After the verification of various ministries of the country including the verification of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the service aspirants have to appear again to foreign embassies, foreign ministries of the respective countries and various foreign authorities for verification, which is very time-consuming, laborious and expensive.
Courtesy of the Foreign Secretary of the Netherlands:
At the end of the ceremony, the Foreign Secretary of the Netherlands, Paul Huzis, paid a courtesy call on the Foreign Minister, Hasan Mahmud.
The Foreign Minister praised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the Embassy of Bangladesh in this overall initiative. He expressed hope that within eight months of joining the convention, it would be possible to fully launch the e-APP or electronic apostille program for Bangladeshi citizens with the final support of other countries that are party to it.
In the ceremony of handing over the instrument of accession, the ambassador of Bangladesh appointed to the Netherlands. Riaz Hamidullah, Head of Treaties Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Deputy Secretary General of The Hague Conference on Private International Law, Consul and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country Dr. Shah Md. Tanveer Mansoor and embassy officials were present.