Foreign minister A K Abdul Momen on Wednesday said Bangladesh needs a goodwill gesture from oil-rich Saudi Arabia to meet its power demand amid the global energy crisis due to the Russian-Ukraine war.
He made the call when the Saudi Arabia ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yousef Essa Al Duhailan called on him at the foreign ministry in Dhaka.
The foreign minister also urged the Ambassador to look into the possible Saudi investment in the LNG sector, a foreign ministry press release said.
The Saudi envoy assured that he would take up the issue with the concerned Saudi stakeholders.
During the meeting, they also discussed and reviewed various issues of the existing and prospective investment initiatives including power and renewable energy sectors and new proposals under consideration from Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh.
The Ambassador apprised the minister about the upcoming Joint Economic Commission to be held on October 30-31, 2022 in Riyadh.
He also briefed Minister Momen about the progress of the upcoming visit of the Deputy Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia to Dhaka in the second week of November 2022.
Bangladesh's foreign minister appreciated the progress and development under the present leadership and welcomed the recent appointment of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Congratulating the new leadership for his dynamic role in the Muslim world, Momen said that Bangladesh people were looking forward to according a warm welcome to the new Saudi Prime Minister here.
The Saudi Ambassador expressed his gratitude to the foreign minister for his continuous support and guidance to take forward the bilateral engagements to new heights including Bangladesh's valuable support to Saudi Arabia in the multilateral fora.
