Diplomatic Correspondent

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen on Thursday said the launching of the Chinese Visa Center (CVC) in Dhaka is another new measure by the embassy in the short term to facilitate Bangladeshi citizens' travel to China, reports UNB.

Inaugurating the Chinese Visa Center (CVC) in Dhaka officially, Ambassador Yao said in recent years, the strategic cooperation between Bangladesh and China has sustained a sound momentum of growth, and the two countries enjoy an increasingly close and frequent exchanges at all levels and in all sectors.

The CVC boasts a prime location, competitive reception capacity, advanced equipment, and a professional management team.

"It is believed that, following its launching, the CVC will significantly enhance the efficiency of visa issuance and the service provided to visa applicants," said Ambassador Yao, wishing the Chinese Visa Center in Dhaka a smooth operation and a great success.

Recently, he said, the Embassy has also simplified the visa application documents for participants in the Canton Fair who are exempt from TE Invitation Letters, which has been well received by participants.

"On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, I would like to extend the warmest congratulations on the launching of the CVC, and express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the friends from all walks of life who have long cared about and supported the work of the Embassy," he said.

The envoy said more and more Bangladeshi people are willing to travel to China and their demand for Chinese visas have been growing.

"Last year, the number of visa applicants hit a peak at 1500 per day. Despite that we were short-handed and the visa hall of the Embassy was under a strain, we continuously improved our service as well as the capacity to accept more visa applications," he said.

Nevertheless, the envoy said, it was still difficult to fully satisfy the increasing demands of visa applications.

With the purpose of breaking through the development bottleneck of visa services and further promoting the people-to-people exchanges, he said, they have decided to launch the CVC in Dhaka after meticulously and prudently study and discussion.

It is a common international practice to set up visa application centers in countries where overseas visa application demand is concentrated, and many countries have already established such centers in Bangladesh.

"With this one today, China currently has 103 visa application centers in 55 countries around the world, with a sound management system and extensive experience in operation," said Ambassador Yao.

As a commercial institution registered and operated under the laws of Bangladesh, the CVC is authorized by the Embassy to accept visa applications in strict accordance with the Embassy's requirements and provide applicants with services such as on-site reception, application materials acceptance, passport and legalization documents issuance, and Q&A services.

"The CVC attaches great importance to data security and has taken various measures to protect applicants' privacy. In accordance with regulations, the embassy will rigorously oversee the operations of the CVC to ensure that applicants receive services that are both comfortable and reliable," said Ambassador Yao.

Throughout this process, he said, they encourage ongoing support to and oversight on their visa operations.

"We also extend a warm invitation for everyone to share valuable and constructive feedback to help enhance the operations of the CVC at any time," said the envoy.

Since the full resumption of visa issuance on March 15 last year, in order to meet the rising demand for personnel exchanges between China and Bangladesh, the Embassy has rolled out a series of measures to facilitate Bangladeshi citizens' travel to China, the Ambassador said.

These are shortening visa application forms, lowering visa fees for the entire year, exempting certain applicants from fingerprinting, providing walk-in without appointment visa application service, recruiting more staff, adding service counters, extending office hours, optimizing waiting areas, and providing green channels for urgent humanitarian affairs.

Most notably, with effect from June 15th last year, the Embassy officially launched the China Online Visa Application System, said Ambassador Yao.

All steps including filling out application forms, submitting application documents, and having interviews are conducted online, reducing the frequency of applicants' visits to the Embassy.

"These measures have yielded significant results, with nearly 44,000 visas of various types issued by the Embassy in less than 10 months," said the envoy.

Toufique Hasan, Director General of the East Asia & Pacific Wing of the MoFA, Bangladesh, S.N. Manzur Murshed, former President of the Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), Wang Jicheng, Deputy General Manager of Qiandaifu Company, and Tian Wen and Wang Xiaojing from CIIC Group were present.