Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in Riyadh Tuesday (Oct 16) evening on a four-day bilateral visit to the Kingdom Saudi Arabia (KSA) at the invitation of Saudi King and Custodian of two Holy Mosques Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the PM and her entourage members landed at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh at 6.50 p.m. (KSA time), media reports said.
Governor of Riyadh Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud, Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Golam Moshi and embassy officials received the PM at the airport.
Sheikh Hasina will hold a meeting on Wednesday with the leaders of Council of Saudi Chamber and Riyadh Chamber of Commerce at her place of residence.
In the afternoon, she will have an audience with the Saudi King at Royal Palace and the meeting will be followed by a lunch.
She will later inaugurate Bangladesh Chancery Building in the Diplomatic Quarters, Riyadh.
The PM will depart Riyadh for Madinah by air Wednesday evening to offer Ziarat at Rowza of the Great Prophet (PBUH) at Masjid Al-Nabawi.
On Thursday, she will arrive in Jeddah where she will lay the foundation stone of the Chancery Building of Bangladesh Consulate General.
Sheikh Hasina will perform Umrah in Makkah after Esha prayers.
She will return home from Jeddha on Friday.
During the visit, two instruments – a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation and a MoU on ICT cooperation – would be signed between Bangladesh and the KSA, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali told a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka on Monday, local media reports said.
He said the issue of safe repatriation of Rohingyas will also be discussed during the meeting between Sheikh Hasina and the Saudi King.
Apart from the defence cooperation and Rohingya matters, issues related to labour welfare, promotion of bilateral trade and investment, development cooperation and greater unity and prosperity of Muslim Ummah are expected to be discussed during the meeting of the two leaders, Mahmood said.
The foreign minister hoped that the visit would further strengthen the relations between Bangladesh and the KSA in the days to come.
