Visiting Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah on Wednesday said that there were no challenges in the relations between Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh
“We don’t see challenges. We see opportunities. Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh always have very strong relations. It will continue in that way. We are working to make it even stronger. Sky's the limit,” he said, after his meeting with state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam.
This is the first ever visit of any Saudi Hajj minister to Bangladesh.
The Saudi investment minister is also coming in “few weeks”.
During the visit, he met President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban and had a meeting with State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Faridul Haque Khan at the secretariat.
He announced a transit visa for Bangladeshis who want to perform Umrah while travelling to Saudi Airlines.
He said he came here to facilitate Bangladeshis' visit to Mecca and Medina. “We made so many changes to facilitate the visit.”
He said he was also “truly impressed with the development of Bangladesh, the fastest growing economy in South Asia."
“I am very optimistic that Bangladesh will continue to develop its economy and grow even further.”
Strategic support in last 14 years
Bangladesh, being a Muslim majority country, attaches a special importance to its ties with Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam.
About 3 million Bangladeshis live in Saudi Arabia which, the visiting minister said, is the largest expatriate community of any country.
State Minister Shahriar Alam said this is also the largest Bangladeshi diaspora to any country outside Bangladesh.
“This is for the first time such an important minister has come. We welcome him. He leads a very high-power delegation,” he said.
“As part of the continuation of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina government, in the last 14 years, we have been involved with Saudi Arabia in different strategic issues,” he said.
“We worked together for the peace and stability of the region, middle-east and Asia. We also worked together to re-establish peace. We are working with each other,” he said.
“We will help each other in regional and international politics,” the state minister said.
He also noted “quite a few positive” changes taking place surrounding the Hajj management.
As Saudi Arabia is working to make an aviation hub by expanding its businesses and tourism, the state minister said, Bangladesh would be happy to support the Saudi businesses and industries with “our efficient and hard-working” human resources.
Apart from that, he said he talked about business and the importance of showcasing Bangladesh in Saudi Arabia, areas where Bangladesh is doing well such as textiles, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing sector.
“There are interests and real buying capacity of the citizens of this fantastic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Our businesses have a lot of things to do,” he said.
He said the visiting minister appreciated Bangladesh’s economic growth and graduation and, “we’ll work closely to achieve the dream of 2041 of Sonar Bangla.”
