State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, congratulated the leadership and the people of Saudi Arabia on their 93rd National Day. He spoke as the guest of honor at the national day reception hosted by the Royal Saudi Embassy at its Baridhara premises on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
In his speech, the State Minister described the bilateral relationship as an age-old and trusted partnership based on a deep understanding and close cooperation in various bilateral and multilateral sectors. He expressed satisfaction with the increasing engagement in new and emerging areas of collaboration and the frequency of high-level visits between the two countries. Recalling the recent productive meetings between our Hon’ble President and Hon’ble Prime Minister with the Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister this year, the State Minister expressed eagerness to further elevate the excellent fraternal relations to new heights. The Minister expressed gratitude to the Kingdom for hosting 2.8 million workers who are contributing to the economies of both countries. He commended the Ambassador for his dynamic role in enhancing manpower cooperation, including signing the Workers’ Recruitment and Skill Verification Programme (SVP) for Bangladeshi workforce. He expressed hope that the Kingdom will recruit skilled Bangladeshi workers through this framework agreement while continuing to recruit unskilled workers as well.
The State Minister also appreciated Saudi Arabia’s commitment to diplomacy and dialogue in achieving regional stability, including finding a political solution to the Yemen crisis, and expressed unequivocal support for the Middle East peace process. He further commended Saudi Arabia for its increasing global influence and its recent accession to BRICS. The Minister hopes that the two countries will continue to work together to solidify and consolidate bilateral engagements for the mutual benefit of our two peoples.