QATAR’S EMIR LIKELY TO VISIT BANGLADESH AFTER FIFA WORLD CUP

Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani is likely to visit Dhaka after the FIFA World Cup Tournament at an invitation of Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid.  This was revealed today while Qatar Ambassador to Bangladesh Seraya Ali Mahdi Saeed Al Qahtani paid a courtesy call on foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen at foreign ministry here today.  During the meeting, the Qatar envoy handed over the official invitation acceptance letter of Qatar Emir to the Foreign Minister for onward transmission to the President, a foreign ministry press release said.

The Ambassador said the Emir of Qatar was very keen on developing the bilateral relations with Bangladesh to new heights.  Dr Momen expressed his satisfaction over the excellent bilateral engagements between Bangladesh and Qatar in various fields including political, economic, defence, manpower and trade. He thanked Qatar for hosting the Second Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between the two countries in Doha last month.

The foreign minister appreciated as the FOC took up for discussion many pertinent issues of Bangladesh interests like manpower recruitment, increasing LNG supply and more Qatar investment in Bangladesh.  The Qatari Ambassador responded that Doha side was satisfied at the outcome of the FOC and both sides were working on the arrangement of the exchange of high level visit between the two countries’ leadership.

Recalling his old memories in Qatar and with Qatari leadership, Dr Momen appreciated the socio-economic developments that took place in Qatar in transforming itself to a modern, developed and forward-looking country during the last two decades.  The minister also expressed gratitude to Qatar for hosting a large numbers of Bangladeshi nationals those have been contributing to the socio-economic development of the two countries.

He stated that Bangladesh government has set up 100 Special Economic Zones where Qatar investors could invest and urged the Ambassador to explore the opportunity to invest in various sectors including the LNG and power sector.