State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam, file photo.

Dhaka, Broadcasting News Corporation : Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh Essa Yousef Essa Al Duhailan paid a courtesy call on with the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs monday. The State Minister and the Saudi Envoy exchanged views on various bilateral issues of mutual interests. The Ambassador expressed satisfaction at the state of excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia which is growing rapidly in various fields including political, economic, defence, manpower, business, trade and investment. The Ambassador apprised the State Minister about the follow-up of the visit by the Saudi Deputy Interior Minister to Dhaka in last November 2022. He also updated him about the increasing engagement of Saudi investors in various fields including potential Saudi investment in the EEZ earmarked for Saudi Arabia. The State Minister stated that his office was ready to push forward any issues/proposals from the Saudi side in making headways. While reflecting on the current energy/oil crisis in view of the Russia- Ukraine war, the State Minister stated that Bangladesh needed brotherly support from Saudi Arabia in meeting its energy needs. The Saudi Envoy stated that he would take up the issue with the concerned Saudi stakeholders. The Saudi Envoy also apprised the Minister about the recent terrorist activities conducted by the Houthis in Arab peninsula despite ceasefire. He appreciated the role of Bangladesh in supporting Saudi Arabia and in denouncing terrorism against the Houthis. During the meeting, the State Minister underlined the need to engage more efforts to scale up bilateral collaboration beyond the traditional labour market and Hajj and Umrah. He stated that Saudi Arabia was playing a more visible role in multilateral fora which is encouraging for the Muslim Ummah. He stressed the need for expanding collaboration in the new and emerging areas through time-bound and target-oriented roadmap and expedite pending investment agenda and new areas of collaboration. The Saudi Ambassador expressed his gratitude to the State Minister for his continuous support to take forward the bilateral engagements to new heights including Bangladesh’s valuable support to Saudi Arabia in the multilateral fora.