The minister is scheduled to meet her counterpart Prince Saud Al-Faisal on Tuesday. She will also meet acting Riyadh Gov. Prince Sattam and will attend a luncheon hosted by Bangladesh Ambassador Mohammed Shahidul Islam prior to her departure on Wednesday.
“We have no controversial issues to discuss with Saudi officials. However, we want to improve our existing friendly relations and explore new areas of cooperation. We also want to inform them about measures adopted by our government for the welfare of its migrant workers in the Kingdom,” she said.
The Kingdom is home to some 1.5 million Bangladeshis.
“I am delighted to be in this holy land and look forward to enhance the excellent relations between the two countries,” Moni told Arab News on arrival in Jeddah. She was received at the airport by senior officials of the Foreign Ministry and Bangladeshi diplomats.
Moni said the much-awaited Prabashi Kalyan Bank (Expatriate Welfare Bank) started functioning in April with the aim of cutting migration costs for Bangladeshis.
“The bank provides intending migrant workers with collateral-free soft loans and low-cost remittance services,” the minister said.
She pointed out that this scheme would reduce the need for workers to borrow money from unscrupulous middlemen.
“Those who take out loans from the bank can repay them as they earn abroad.”
She also said her government is currently providing adequate training to its overseas workers in their chosen profession. “We are updating their respective skills to be more productive, which will eventually help them give the country a good name,” she added.
From Riyadh, Moni will leave for Abuja, Nigeria, to attend the Developing-8 Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday.
