DHAKA – Bangladesh on Sunday made it clear that it has dropped the phrase “all countries except Israel” from passport to maintain international standards of the document and there was no change in its decades-long policy of travel ban to the Jewish state, reported The Wire.
Bangladeshi passports earlier had a clause written on them that said “This Passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel”, but the government decided to remove “except Israel” from the document making it valid for the entire world.
Israel welcomed Bangladesh’s decision and called upon Dhaka to establish diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv for the benefit of the people of the two countries.
“Great news! #Bangladesh has removed the travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper,” Deputy Director General at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted.
However, hours later Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen told the media in Dhaka that “the changes have been made to maintain global standards.”
He said that it “does not mean that there has been a change in Bangladesh’s position” regarding Israel.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement that said the holders of Bangladeshi passports are still banned from travelling to Israel.
The country’s position on Israel remained unchanged, the ministry said, reiterating Bangladesh’s support for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently been drawn to a tweet issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel that welcomes the removal of the ban on travel to Israel on E-passports issued by Bangladesh,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
