Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia are holding a dialogue today in Riyadh on various issues

Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia are sitting in the second political dialogue in Riyadh. The dialogue to be held on Monday (July 1) will focus on trade and investment issues. In addition to seeking funds from Saudi Arabia to meet the reserve crisis, the proposed visit of the country’s crown prince to Bangladesh will be discussed.

Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Foreign Minister will sit in a political dialogue with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud in Riyadh today. Hasan Mahmud.

Prime Minister’s Advisor on Private Industry and Investment Affairs Salman F. Rahman is in the Bangladesh delegation in that dialogue.
According to diplomatic sources, the meeting reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries, proposed visit of the Saudi crown prince to Bangladesh, export of manpower, increasing business in the private sector, accepting development projects in Bangladesh through the Saudi Development Fund (SFD), setting up Bangladesh Urea and DAP fertilizer factories under joint investment, Saudi investment initiative and proposed investment in Bangladesh’s petro-chemicals and tourism will be discussed.

Apart from bilateral issues, various regional and international issues will come up on the discussion table. Among these are the Palestinian crisis, the Middle East situation, the Yemen situation, the Houthi attack targeting the holy Mecca-Madinah, the Rohingya crisis, the impact of the war in Ukraine and Russia.

In addition, the issue of supporting each other may come up for discussion in the international arena, especially in various forums of the United Nations.
An official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the overall issue of relations between the two countries will be discussed. Trade, investment and cooperation in various fields will be discussed. The proposed visit of the Saudi Prince to Bangladesh will be discussed.

The Middle East issue will be very important. In this case, the Gaza issue will be more in focus. Besides, we will raise the Rohingya issue.
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia is our big development partner. About 3 million Bangladeshis live there and send remittances to the country.

Saudi Arabia is cooperating with us on various issues including green energy, solar power and port management. We will ask them to invest in the industrial sector.
Besides, since Saudis keep money in banks of different countries, we can offer them to keep money in offshore accounts of our country’s banks. They will get regular profit and from that account they can trade in their currency. We want to highlight that we have opened the window of offshore account facility for foreign individuals, institutions and expatriate Bangladeshis, said the minister.

In the dialogue, the additional secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Md. Nazrul Islam, Director General and Director of West and Central Asia Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shafiqur Rahman and Nafisa Mansoor will be present.