Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — Bangladesh Ambassador Golam Moshi, who is scheduled to return to Bangladesh after completing his tour of duty of five and a half years in the Kingdom, said “his ambassadorial assignment was truly rewarding and exceptionally engaging given that the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia has grown from strength to strength since 2015 when he took charge.
Moshi stressed that during this period, the Bangladesh prime minister visited the Kingdom five times and met the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince to discuss issues of mutual interests including regional and international political issues, economic and investment relations and security and defense cooperation’s.
The Bangladesh Ambassador had played a pivotal role in materializing these visits. Such high level visit has paved the way for further cooperation between the two countries and transformed the cooperation dynamics from a human resource-based relation to a multi-dimensional partnership.
Moshi recalled that 2019 was especially a year of success when a strong investment delegation from Saudi Arabia visited Bangladesh under the leadership of the Minister for Economy and Planning and Minister for Commerce and Investment. The delegation included representatives from government and private sectors as well as from the PIF.
Subsequently Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh and relevant investors signed a series of MoUs to enhance the economic ties between the two countries. Ambassador Moshi has worked tirelessly to invite and pursue Saudi investors including ARAMCO, ACWA power and Al Fanar Group and many others to generate an interest in Bangladesh and join the investment delegation to Bangladesh.
Moshi recalled that the Saudi Bangladesh Joint Economic Commission also saw two successful meetings taking place during his tenure as Ambassador. “The 13th Joint Commission Meeting held in February 2020 paved the way for enhancing the intensity of economic and bilateral cooperation’s between the two countries in the years ahead,” he said.
“During my tenure more than 40 agreements and MoUs have been revived or introduced that should guide all aspects of cooperation between the two countries including on electricity and power generation, solar energy, LNG supply and sea ports,” Moshi added.
Ambassador Moshi introduced the Expat Digital Centers in different parts of Saudi Arabia to bring the consular services at the doorsteps of the applicants living in various parts of the Kingdom. “This mitigated the hassles of coming to the Embassy in Riyadh or the consulate in Jeddah for almost 2.2 million Bangladeshi resident workers in the Kingdom for consular related services,” Moshi said.
The Ambassador has seen the introduction of Saudi Vision 2030 under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and the Saudi efforts in transforming the economy from an oil dependant one into a modern technology based economy.
Moshi said, he has tried to identify the common ground of partnership where Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia can cooperate in attaining Saudi Vision 2030 towards the economic benefits of both the countries.
During his assignment, the cooperation on Hajj related matters between the two countries increased significantly with Bangladesh inducted within the Makkah Road Initiative. “The performance of Hajj will be much comfortable for Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims in the future,” Moshi said.
On COVID-19, Moshi said, the pandemic has shown the resilience of cooperation between the two countries when almost 2.2 million Bangladeshi residents in the Kingdom alongside Saudi nationals endured the impact of the pandemic and worked towards the implementation of the preventing measures of the spread of the pathogen.
“Six front line Bangladeshi doctors died during the COVID-19; and their contribution towards fighting the pandemic would be an inspiration for Bangladeshi community in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “In cooperation with the Saudi government, we directed the largest cash and food assistance program of the Embassy for expatriate Bangladeshi workers living in the KSA,” Moshi added.
