No visa-free entry mulled: India

India's external affairs ministry never proposed a visa-free entry for Bangladeshi nationals, its spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin has said in Dhaka. ‘There is no proposal for visa-free entry to Bangladeshi nationals,’ he categorically stated at a press briefing, rejecting media reports that Delhi’s home ministry had turned down an external affairs ministry proposal on visa relaxation. The press briefing was held on the visit of India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Akbaruddin said even the visa on arrival was still a pending issue. He said Bangladesh as a ‘friendly neighbour’ would get it along with many other countries once the decision of on-arrival visa is taken. But he said India has decided to issue five-year multiple-entry visa for Bangladeshi nationals below 13 and above 65 years of age - a decision that Bangladesh’s foreign minister, too, announced in his press briefing. Akbaruddin said, during Swaraj’s meetings with her counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the focus had been on ‘connectivity’. By connectivity he meant ‘people-to-people contact, energy cooperation, transport and exchange of ideas’, according to bdnews24.com.