On the auspicious occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the Independence and National Day of Bangladesh, I extend my heartiest felicitations and sincere greetings to all our friends in Saudi Arabia and to all expatriate Bangladesh nationals living in this beautiful country.

As we celebrate this great day, we recall with deep gratitude the greatest Bengalee of all time, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, under whose dynamic leadership we earned our great independence.

On this memorable occasion, we pay deep tribute to the valiant freedom fighters and martyrs of liberation war. Bangladesh as a country is witnessing rapid transformation. The heroic people of Bangladesh are poised to take off the country to a challenging height.

As a result, Bangladesh has made remarkable strides in various sectors.

Its achievements in social development and macro-management contribute to elicit unqualified appreciation from the global community. Bangladesh is now one of the 11 promising countries of the 21st century. who proved its adeptness in facing the recession.

Bangladesh has put its efforts to strengthen the process of peace of democracy encouraging dialogue and negotiation and called for reformation to the international order for protection and promotion of the interest of all nations. Our contribution to the UN peacekeeping in many troubled spots in the world eloquently speaks of our continuing commitment in this direction.

In fact, Bangladesh’s enlightened and forward looking foreign policy has made the country an important role player in the UN, NAM, OIC, Commonwealth and other international and regional organizations.

Bangladesh always attaches great importance to its relations with the government and the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia.

The existing bonds of friendship between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia are deep-rooted and are characterized by common priorities, shared perspectives and fraternal relations.

The fraternal relations have been further cemented by ever deepening bilateral ties in different areas including cooperation in the field of manpower. Both the countries hold identical positions on most international issues in the international arena, particularly the issues relating to the causes of Islamic Ummah.

We have made an attempt in this special publication to offer a few aspects on Bangladesh and its socio-economic development.

We also take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to the esteemed contributors, sponsors and well wishers for their cooperation and support to our sincere efforts.

— Md. Shahidul Islam

Ambassador of Bangladesh