DHAKA: Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin has invited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit the South Asian nation, the president’s secretary told Arab News on Monday.
Shahabuddin wrapped up his 10-day visit to the Kingdom on Sunday after performing Hajj on the invitation of the Saudi leadership.
During the trip, he attended a ceremony hosted by the crown prince at Mina Palace, where they held talks on the sidelines of the event.
“It was a short discussion but held in a very cordial manner. Earlier, our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina invited the crown prince to visit Bangladesh. During the discussion, our president invited him again to visit,” Joynal Abedin, the president’s press secretary, said.
According to Abedin, “big investments in Bangladesh” were being considered by the Saudi leadership, with the crown prince having expressed hope to visit the country “very soon.”
Shahabuddin’s invite last week followed Hasina’s letter of invitation for the crown prince sent in September.
The Bangladeshi president and the crown prince also discussed other topics during their talks, including the Kingdom’s continued support and cooperation of development in Bangladesh.
“The people of Bangladesh are waiting very eagerly to receive the crown prince in Bangladesh,” Abedin added, quoting Shahabuddin.
“The people of Bangladesh want to see that as a custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Kingdom will play a vital role in the international community for the development of Muslim ummah.”
With more than 150 million people professing Islam, Bangladesh is one of the largest Muslim-majority countries in the world.
Saudi Arabia appeared keen to make the crown prince’s visit “very result-oriented,” Golam Moshi, Bangladesh’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said.
“MBS means business, he means development, he means welfare of the people. He wants to make it a very historic visit, it should be a tangible and important one,” Moshi told Arab News.
In his experience as Dhaka’s envoy in Riyadh, Saudi authorities had always “responded positively” to any requests, which Moshi said, “shows the sincerity and commitment of the Saudi government.”
Bangladesh is mainly focused on boosting its manpower export to the Kingdom and attracting more Saudi investments, in line with its economic development priorities.
“Cooperation in the power and energy sector could be the number-one sector of investment for Bangladesh,” he added.
Bangladesh could also help implement the Saudi Vision 2030 economic diversification plan, which offered “huge opportunities to export skilled workforces,” Moshi said, citing megaprojects such as NEOM and the Red Sea Project.
“Saudi Arabia is very keen to explore further cooperation and collaboration with Bangladesh. They are very serious, and they want to see the development of Bangladesh.”
