HE Stephen Evans CMG OBE

Welcome message from the High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Stephen Evans, CMG OBE

I feel privileged to be here in Bangladesh, representing the UK and its values.

The UK is a friend of Bangladesh; we believe in the potential of this country and its people. Our broad and positive engagement in Bangladesh reflects this throughout. The varied work of our High Commission, our development programme, managed by DFID, the educational and cultural work of the British Council, are all aimed at supporting a successful partnership between Britain and Bangladesh.

We have wide common interests, in seeing a stable, prosperous and democratic Bangladesh.  Whether it be building democracy, preparing for the impacts of climate change, countering threats to security, developing trade and investment or reducing poverty, there can be few issues today for which partnership and co-operation between our countries will not be vital.

I am also very proud to represent today’s Britain. A Britain, with a vibrant multicultural, multifaith society, which I believe, is the envy of many.  It is a Britain now that has half a million people from Bangladesh, who now tie our two countries together.

I know that many visitors to this website will be particularly interested in the services we offer in the areas of immigration and consular assistance.  The UK remains one of the most popular destinations and we warmly welcome genuine applicants from Bangladesh because they have much to offer, just as they have much to gain from Britain as a place of business, study, tourism and family life.  It’s why we continue to strive to ensure that our visa service is the most efficient in Bangladesh – reducing waiting times for decisions; the most transparent, with the forthcoming ‘points based system’; and protective of genuine applicants.

Finally, let me finish by saying I feel tremendously proud to be the High Commissioner here, and I look forward immensely to the task of building even closer ties between our two people and nations.