BD-KSA meet tomorrow to focus on business

The upcoming two-day Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) between Bangladesh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will focus on business and trade between the two countries.
The meeting is scheduled to be held from 12 and 13 February.
The meeting is expected to explore business opportunities of Saudi Arabians here to attract huge investment in Bangladesh.
"The KSA occupies a vital position in the foreign policy of Bangladesh for political and economic reasons. KSA has been crucial for the much needed economic aid, generally as grants, trade and investment, energy supplies, employment and remittances," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the daily Observer on Monday.
This time we will finalize some projects what we agreed during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Saudi Arabia, he said.
Saudi Arabia plans to invest several billion dollars in more than 30 projects in Bangladesh including setting up an aircraft repair and maintenance facility in Lalmonirhat.
Last year a large Saudi delegation, including two senior ministers, visited
Bangladesh. They discussed multibillion dollar investment with officials of the Prime Minister's Office and ministries concerned.
Saudi Arabia also remains the leading trading partner of Bangladesh in the Middle East.
However, bilateral trade at present is merely $1.4 billion a year. Currently, over 2.8 million Bangladeshi workers are employed in Saudi Arabia. Thus, Bangladesh received remittances of about $2.6 billion in 2018.
Investment from Saudi Arabia in Bangladesh hit about $5.0 billion in 2018. But this seems to be insignificant compared to its investment in Pakistan and India.
The economic imperatives of Bangladesh have prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to officially visit Saudi Arabia four times during 2016-18.
 "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited KSA four times with an aim of expanding cooperation in the investment field. Following the visits the relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have reached a new height," the Foreign Ministry observed.
During the Primer's visit to Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh sought $35 billion investment from the oil reached country. Saudi Arabia said they will review the proposals by a joint working committee headed by a senior minister of Saudi Arabia.
In this line a 34-member Saudi delegation visited Dhaka last year. We want to materialize the idea this time, the official added.
Investment from Saudi Arabia in Bangladesh hit about $5.0 billion in 2018. Last year the Bangladesh received $2.6 billion in remittances from 2.8 million of its citizens working in Saudi Arabia.
 "Riyadh and Dhaka have long maintained close bilateral relation. Saudi Arabia is the largest source of Bangladesh's vital foreign remittances. The relation has deepened in recent years, with the two countries signing a defense agreement and a host of agreements and memorandums of understanding worth up to $20 billion," the official added.
Ties between impoverished Bangladesh and oil-rich Saudi Arabia, both Muslim-majority countries, have strengthened in recent years and officials have agreed to form a joint council to consider investment.
"State-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation imports 700,000 tonnes of Arab Light crude oil from Aramco annually for its sole refinery. Aramco is the world's largest oil company and plans to be a major global LNG player," according to the Energy Ministry.
To enhance cooperation between the two countries, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have signed two agreements and four memorandums of understandings (MoUs) for the development of various sectors of Bangladesh including power, industrial sectors, chemical, steel, LNG and solar power sectors.
"Around 30 to 35 projects are expected to come up for discussion when the Saudi delegation comes to Bangladesh," the official added.
An agreement on construction of 100MW solar IPP, an agreement on manufacturing transformer and electricity devices, MoU on setting up of urea formaldehyde-85 plant, MoU on establishing Saudi-Bangladesh Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, MoU on manufacturing cables and MoU on manpower export have been signed by Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) and Al Maml Trading Estate of Saudi Arabia.
Golam Moshi, Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, sent the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry a list of projects in which Saudi entrepreneurs had shown interest.
Apart from the projects, Bangladesh will also seek around $1 billion as investment fund for its stock market and industrial finance.
Bangladesh would propose half the money for stock market and the other half to be disbursed to private sector entrepreneurs through financial institutions.
According to the project proposals sent by the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh, the Gulf country is eager to set up an aircraft repair and maintenance facility.
A delegation from the company has visited Bangladesh and explored the potentials and skills of Bangladeshi workers in the sector.
Once built, repair and maintenance of both military and commercial passenger aircraft could be done there.
A unique proposal to set up a Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and urea fertilizer plant may also come up for discussion, the official added.
"The meeting may discuss the Saudi government's long pending issue to take back 42,000 Rohingyas who have Bangladeshi passports," another official said.
Saudi Arabia thinks these Rohingya with Bangladeshi passports travelled by air to the Middle Eastern country, diplomatic sources said.
According to him KSA issued a number of letters asking Bangladesh to settle the matter several times.