State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Monday said Bangladesh needs brotherly support from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in meeting its energy needs.

He said this while reflecting on the current energy crisis in view of the Russia- Ukraine war when KSA Ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yousef Essa Al Duhailan met him at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Read: UAE keen to scale up engagements with Bangladesh

The Saudi envoy stated that he would take up the issue with the concerned Saudi stakeholders.

The Saudi envoy also apprised the Minister about the recent terrorist activities conducted by the Houthis in Arab peninsula despite ceasefire.

He appreciated the role of Bangladesh in supporting Saudi Arabia and in denouncing terrorism against the Houthis.

Read: Argentina’s foreign minister says will open embassy in Dhaka: Media report

During the meeting, the State Minister underlined the need to engage more efforts to scale up bilateral collaboration beyond the traditional labour market and Hajj and Umrah.

He stated that Saudi Arabia was playing a more visible role in multilateral fora which is encouraging for the Muslim Ummah.

Alam stressed the need for expanding collaboration in the new and emerging areas through time-bound and target-oriented roadmap and expedite pending investment agenda and new areas of collaboration. 

The Saudi Ambassador expressed his gratitude to the State Minister for his continuous support to take forward the bilateral engagements to new heights including Bangladesh’s valuable support to Saudi Arabia in the multilateral fora.

The Ambassador expressed satisfaction at the state of excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia which is growing rapidly in various fields including political, economic, defence, manpower, business, trade and investment.

He apprised the State Minister about the follow-up of the visit by the Saudi Deputy Interior Minister to Dhaka in last November 2022.

He also updated him about the increasing engagement of Saudi investors in various fields including potential Saudi investment in the EEZ earmarked for Saudi Arabia.        

The State Minister stated that his office was ready to push forward any issues/proposals from the Saudi side in making headways.