State Minister Md. Shahriar Alam has urged his Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir to sign a MoU between Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Authority of Dhaka and competent Saudi authority, which would enable Saudi investors to invest in Bangladesh on PPP projects.

He held bilateral talks with his Saudi counterpart at the latter’s Office in Riyadh on Sunday.

Saudi State Minister Adel Jubeir replied positively and stressed on potential Saudi investors to invest in a vibrant economy like Bangladesh and hoped that they would soon sort out the MoU issue regarding PPP, the foreign ministry said.

On a proposal from the Bangladesh State Minister for joint venture in contract farming in suitable African countries where Bangladesh can provide its expertise in agriculture and manpower, Saudi State Minister welcomed the proposal.

Shahriar Alam expressed his government’s deep gratitude to the Saudi King and Crown Prince for allowing all the foreign residents irrespective of their legal status for access to free COVID treatment and inoculation, which has saved many lives of expatriates including Bangladesh community living in the Kingdom.

In reply to a request, State Minister Jubeir assured of considering an interim arrangement for the irregular Bangladesh expatriates to have access to health facilities and employment. State Minister Alam also requested to reappoint a cultural attache at the Saudi Embassy in Dhaka, so the service seekers’ would not need to send their documents to New Delhi for attestation and Saudi side took note of that.

Both the State Minister agreed to expedite the pending Agreements and MoUs and to hold first Foreign Office Consultation where the whole gamut of bilateral relationship could be discussed.

 The Saudi State Minister congratulated Bangladesh at its 50th anniversary of independence. He highly praised the remarkable sustained economic growth of Bangladesh carried out in the last one decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

 He said the recent UN decision to graduate Bangladesh from the LDC category to the middle-income country is a testimony of this success.

 He fondly remembered the historic ties between these two countries and the valued contribution of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to its independence and laying the foundation of Golden Bengal.

 State Minister Shahriar mentioned that under the visionary leaderships of both the countries, the relations have elevated to a strategic level.

 For advancing from this point, he emphasised on exploring further avenues of cooperation on international issues based on common interest and goals and economic ties.

 Shahriar reiterated Bangladesh government’s unwavering support to the Saudi side and expressed solidarity condemning the recent cowardly attacks on Houthis.

 Adel Al-Jubeir appreciated Bangladesh’s position on the Yemen issue.

 The State Minister stressed on regular business-to-business dialogue to explore bilateral trade and investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

 Early in the morning, State Minister Shahriar laid a wreath at the portrait of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and attended a webinar to mark the historic 7th March.

 In the evening, he attended another international webinar on ‘historic 7th March speech by Bangabandhu focusing on historical and political perspective’.

 Shahriar Alam is in the Kingdom on his 3-day official visit there.

 The meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere followed by a lunch and walking tour in the Foreign Office building, the foreign ministry said.

 He would be meeting the OIC Secretary-General at his office in Jeddah during his visit.