During the recent visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the kingdom, the issue was discussed with the top Saudi leadership.
“Bangladesh wants Saudi public investment in different development projects in infrastructure, communications and energy, and Saudi Arabia responded positively,” Bangladesh's deputy chief of mission in Riyadh, Nazrul Islam, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The prime minister in her meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz last week put forward proposals to invest in several mega development projects and the king instructed relevant ministers to visit Dhaka to discuss in details about the projects.
Nazrul said Saudi Arabia has adopted a plan to transfer its billions of dollars of petro-fund from Europe and America to Asian countries like Bangladesh.
The kingdom country also wants to reduce its economic dependency on oil revenue and invest in real and other sectors to absorb any negative oil shock, he added.Manpower recruitmentThe deputy chief of mission said Riyadh has opened up its labour market but it must be based on market demand.
“As long as Bangladesh can supply quality human resources, Riyadh has agreed to take them,” he said.
Citing an example, he said a Saudi government recruitment delegation visited Dhaka last month to recruit physicians with five to ten years of experience and their recruitment process has already started.
The monthly salary of the doctors would be around Tk300,000 and all other facilities like lodging and education for their children, he said.
Saudi Arabia is a big country with a huge economy and it needs foreign workers and as long as Bangladesh can provide quality workers with a reasonable migration cost, it will absorb them, Nazrul added.
Around 1.5 million Bangladeshis currently reside in Saudi Arabia and send billions of dollars of remittance back to the country.Military coalitionBangladesh has agreed to provide military assistance to Saudi Arabia in its effort to counter violent extremism and terrorism.
Saudi Arabia last year formed a 34-nation coalition where Bangladesh is a primary member and agreed to provide all sorts of civil and military help to the coalition.
The prime minister in a press briefing on Wednesday said Bangladesh would send military personnel to protect the two holy shrines in Saudi Arabia.
A senior government official said the army chief of Bangladesh visited Saudi Arabia in March to discuss possible military assistance for the coalition.
Another meeting at the foreign minister level would be held in Riyadh soon where Bangladesh high-level representation is expected, he added.
Dhaka has a policy not to send military forces without the approval of the United Nations, but in the case of Saudi Arabia, it would make an exception, the official said.Anti-Tehran positionBangladesh gave a patient hearing about the anti-Tehran stance of Saudi Arabia during the visit of the prime minister to Riyadh.
Another senior government official said during the visit, Saudi Arabia raised the anti-Tehran issue and Bangladesh listened and took note of it.
Bangladesh has a foreign policy of “friendship to all, malice to none” and it has very friendly relationship with Iran.
“We have an embassy in Tehran where our ambassador is working and in reciprocity, Iran is also operating in Dhaka with a full-fledged embassy and an ambassador,” he said.
After the hajj tragedy where hundreds of pilgrimages from Iran died last year and attack on Saudi mission in Iran put the bilateral relationship in strained position and eventually Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
