Travel advisory do not discourage visiting Bangladesh, says US envoy Marcia Bernicat

Embassies’ travel advisories are not meant to deter visitors to Bangladesh, says US envoy Marcia Bernicat.

She told reporters at the Secretariat on Wednesday that they were “grateful” to the government for ensuing security of foreigners, as the “threats are credible and they remain real”.

“And we want to remain vigilant”, added the US ambassador in Dhaka.

Bernicat along with envoys of the UK, Canada and Australia met Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal at his office.

After the meeting, she told journalists that they have legal obligations “to keep our citizens safe."

"That is done through a travel advisory from time to time.

“An advisory is meant to urge them to be vigilant and be aware of the threats out here,” said Bernicat adding it does not advise people not to come to Bangladesh.

“By the same token we must work with you and your government to keep our citizens safe and keep all Bangladeshis safe from any threats including terrorist threats,” she said.

The US and the UK had issued repeated security alerts for its citizens citing credible information of possible terrorist attacks in Bangladesh following the murder of two foreigners in Dhaka and Rangpur.

Australia first issued travel advisory last month following which its cricket board cancelled the tour of Bangladesh.

Those alerts were issued despite the government taking strict security measures for all foreigners after the radical group Islamic State reportedly claimed responsibility for killing an Italian and a Japanese national within a week.

Law-enforcing agencies say they did not find any IS link to those murders.