Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has laid emphasis on getting prepared with skills, education and infrastructure as a major shift is taking place in the world economy.

"To gain from this change, we’ve to prepare ourselves with skills, education, infrastructure, good governance, and above all goodwill," Dr Momen said. 

He laid emphasis on working together in partnership and need to be fully prepared to overcome the challenges and to grip the opportunities ahead.

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"I’m confident that through our collective efforts, strong coordination and hard work, we’ll be able to turn Bangladesh into ‘Sonar Bangla’ as dreamt by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation," Dr Momen said.

He was addressing a virtual programme titled "Perspective Plan 2041 and Quest for Development: Golden Bengal as a Label for Nation Branding" held on Thursday night. 

Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Md Javed Patwari and Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury also spoke at the event. 

Prof Dr Shamsul Alam made a comprehensive presentation with relevant data, on perspective plan 2041 at the event organised by Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh.

Dr Momen said this is a landmark year for Bangladesh as the country is celebrating two significant events together -- the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Golden Jubilee of our Independence.  

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"We’ve also crossed another historic milestone this year. We’ve received final recommendation from the United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) to graduate from the group of Least Developed Countries (LDC), which was endorsed by ECOSOC recently," he said.

Dr Momen said Bangabandhu had dreamt of ‘Sonar Bangla’ which would be free from poverty and hunger with social and economic justice prevailing. 

The government’s Vision 2041, which is a continuation of Goal 2021, aims to carry the development journey of Bangladesh that Bangabandhu dream of - to end absolute poverty and to graduate into a higher middle-income status by 2031 and a developed country by 2041, he said. 

Dr Momen said Bangladesh is a market of 165 million people; it has a strategic location between the South and South East Asia. 

It also offers attractive investment opportunities for foreign investors, including from Saudi Arabia, he mentioned. 

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"The Saudi side could tap in our public private partnership investment opportunity," said the Foreign Minister. 

He said Bangladesh is expecting to sign an MoU very soon with the Saudi side, which will allow Saudi investors to invest under PPP. 

Saudi investors could explore other opportunities here. Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) will provide all necessary supports for that, Dr Momen added.