ICMPD has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Bangladesh to strengthen its strategic engagement and cooperation in the areas of border management, promoting regular migration, preventing irregular migration, and combatting human trafficking. The partnership includes bilateral and multilateral dialogues, as well as support to human and institutional capacity development of relevant border and migration agencies in Bangladesh.
At the sidelines of last month’s Vienna Migration Conference, HE Mr Khondakar Mahbubur Rahman, Additional Secretary, Political and International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh’s Minister of Home Affairs, signed the agreement with ICMPD Director General Michael Spindelegger and ICMPD Director General elect Susanne Raab.
ICMPD holds this agreement with significant, strategic importance for our ever-expanding work in Bangladesh. This represents a crucial strategic milestone for ICMPD operations in the country, particularly in the growing need to address irregular migration and promote regular migration, preventing people from falling into the trap of cross-border crimes such as human trafficking.said Mr Spindelegger
The negotiation process was led by the Bangladeshi Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment. Representatives from the National Directorate of Forces Intelligence, National Security Intelligence, Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh Border Guards, Bangladesh Coast Guard, Immigration Police, the Special Branch of Police, the School of Intelligence, and the Department of Immigration and Passports, also played an important role in defining the scope of the agreement at the technical level.
Joining the signatories were HE Mr Toufiq Hasan, Bangladeshi Ambassador to Austria, Ms Lutfun Naher and Mr Rahar Bin Kutub, Deputy Secretary and Assistant Secretary respectively at the Ministry of Home Affairs, and ICMPD senior staff of the Regional Office Silk Routes.
ICMPD and Bangladesh sign cooperation on border management and migration
ICMPD had previously launched a Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Dhaka and Culmilla, which saw active collaboration with the public and private sectors; and a series of workshops with faith-based groups, migrants, airport migration desk, and the private sector on safe migration and sustainable reintegration.
In 2024 and 2025, ICMPD supported human and institutional capacities for over 300 Bangladeshi law enforcement officials – particularly Immigration Police officers – through document security training, providing equipment, manuals, and equipping the second-line of border control at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. These activities were implemented in the framework of the Integrated Border Management in the Silk Routes Region (IBM SR) project, funded by the EU and implemented by ICMPD.
More recently, ICMPD launched the MCP-II project with support from the Ministry of the Interior and Administration of Poland, which seeks to build human and institutional capacities of Bangladesh’s Immigration Police in enhancing border management capacities. This represents a strong example of complementarity between EU- and EU Member State-funded initiatives.