DHAKA: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s upcoming first official visit to Saudi Arabia is set to broaden bilateral ties, his office said on Monday, after receiving the Kingdom’s official invitation.
Saudi Ambassador Abdullah bin Abiyah met with the prime minister at the Cabinet Secretariat, where he presented the invitation, Humayun Kabir, foreign affairs adviser to the prime minister, who was present during the meeting together with Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, told Arab News.
“The ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia made a call on Prime Minister Tarique Rahman this morning to pass on the invitation from His Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit Saudi Arabia. Our prime minister has cordially accepted the invitation. The exact time and date of the travel will be sorted out later. Most likely the visit will take place after the summer,” he said.
“It’s a significant moment that we received such an important invitation from Saudi Arabia, and it will be a very important visit. In the Middle Eastern region, Saudi Arabia is our historical partner. Since the presidency of Ziaur Rahman, it’s always been an important partner,” Kabir said, referring to the prime minister’s father, the former president, who has been credited with establishing bilateral ties in the 1970s, after Bangladesh’s independence.
“With this visit, our bilateral relationship will be taken to new heights.”
Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party — a party founded by his father and for decades led by his mother, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia — made a landslide win in the February election.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Dhaka became the first foreign envoy to meet Rahman after he assumed the country’s top office.
“Bangladesh wants a strategic, comprehensive and special relationship with Saudi Arabia,” the foreign adviser said, as a ministerial delegation from the Kingdom is expected to visit Dhaka next week to discuss investment matters.
“We have a wide range of sectors where we seek Saudi investments, in areas like infrastructure, tourism, port management, agro industry, etc. Our bilateral ties with Saudi Arabia are considered brotherly ties, not just simply a relationship between two countries. It’s a brotherly one, a comprehensive one. It will be taken to new heights.”
