Bangladesh to open consulate in Toronto soon with Nayem Uddin as first consul general

Nayem Uddin Ahmed, currently serving as the minister of the Bangladesh High Commission in Canada, will be the first consul general to the Bangladesh consulate in Toronto.

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.

A senior official at the foreign ministry confirmed to bdnews24.com on Saturday that Nayem has been designated as the first consul general of the new consulate.

Nayem Uddin Ahmed

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 of the embassy in Washington DC.

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

Our Roving Correspondent adds from Toronto: 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 km of travel to Ottawa to have the consular services. Until recently, the High Commission used to send its officials to Toronto around once in every six months to provide those services.

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