DHAKA: Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed bin Abdulkarim El-Khereiji met Bangladesh’s top leadership in Dhaka on Tuesday amid preparations for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s upcoming visit to Riyadh.
El-Khereiji arrived in the Bangladeshi capital on a two-day trip and met Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman and the prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser, Humayun Kabir.
He also paid a courtesy call on the prime minister at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
“Both sides agreed to take the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia to a new height,” the Prime Minister’s Office said after the meeting.
“Prime Minister Tarique Rahman said that the relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia are based on mutual trust and long-standing friendship. The current government wants to build a strategic, multi-dimensional and long-term partnership.”
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaid also took part in the meeting with El-Khereiji, who reiterated the Saudi leadership’s invitation for Rahman to visit the Kingdom.
It will be the first official visit to Riyadh for the Bangladeshi leader, who took office in late February.
The official invitation was presented last month by Saudi Ambassador Abdullah bin Abiyah.
Kabir told Arab News at the time that “it will be a very important visit” as Bangladesh seeks “strategic, comprehensive and special relationship with Saudi Arabia.”
Two weeks before El-Khereiji’s arrival, Saudi Deputy Minister of Transport Rumaih Al-Rumaih was in Dhaka for talks on strategic projects and investment opportunities.
The trip also comes days after Bangladesh joined the Saudi-led maritime coalition to support efforts in maintaining regional peace and stability.
The Multinational Maritime Defense Alliance was established last week with the support of 14 countries, including Bangladesh, Kuwait, Bahrain, Pakistan, Turkiye and Jordan.
It is aimed at protecting freedom of navigation, secure international trade routes and safeguard energy supply lines across key waterways — the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
