a2i to launch digital centres in 5 countries

After the success in Saudi Arabia with ‘Expatriate Digital Centres’ (EDCs), Access to Information (a2i) project has decided to launch the centres in five more countries for providing quick services to Bangladeshi expatriates, reports BSS.
“The a2i has selected five countries – Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar – for providing digital service among Bangladeshi expatriates so that they can get information along with necessary documents,” Shahida Sultana, deputy secretary (innovation specialist to a2i) told BSS today.
With the five new Expatriate Digital Centres, the number of total centres will be stood at 11 as the a2i earlier has set six Expatriate Digital Centres (EDCs) at Dammam, Batha, Riyadh, Madinah and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Sultana said.
She said the a2i, which was run under the Prime Minister’s Office earlier, now under the ICT division has taken plans to introduce these digital centres abroad where Bangladeshi nationals are living aimed at providing them with quick and hassle-free service.
“Initially, nine types of service are being provided from the centres including application for passport, renewal of passport, application for travel permit, allegation, attestation, letter of introduction, application for sending dead body home and approval for burial of dead body in local graveyard,” she said.
A total of 7,334 different kinds of services have so far been provided to service seekers from EDCs of Saudi Arabia till July 26, 2018, Sultana said citing to a2i data.
“A total of 5,826 Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) have been reissued from the EDC in Riyadh while Jeddah EDC reissued 1,365 MRPs,” she said, adding a total of 103 online registrations for MRPs and 10 applications for travel permission were received at the centres.
After the establishment, the EDCs issued 17 passports, six attestation certificates along with travel permission and all service seekers got their necessary documents hassle free from digital centres.
Apart from this, Embassies and Consulates organise different types of functions regarding digital service and facilities. Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) and the Wage Earners Welfare Board also created awareness among common people about the digital centres.
The a2i official said every service recipient take different types of services from their nearby EDC at their convenient time. As a result, service recipient could minimize their expenditure alongside travel cost with the set up of these centres.
The a2i has already developed an online system for providing services to expatriates Bangladeshi.