Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday called upon the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to extend the time of visa approval for Hajj pilgrims so all of them could perform Hajj as its ambassador Essa Yousef Essa Alduhailan called on her in Dhaka.
鈥楽audi Arabia should extend visa approval time for Hajj pilgrims as they can perform Hajj,鈥� PM鈥檚 speech writer Md Nazrul Islam quoted her as saying in a media briefing after the meeting at the prime minister鈥檚 official residence Ganabhaban.
Md Nazrul Islam said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina raised the issue of visa approval time extension for Hajj pilgrims.
The ambassador said that he was taking the initiative to provide visas for the Hajj pilgrims who were yet to get their visas for performing Hajj.
Over 10,000 Hajj pilgrims are yet to get visa from Saudi Arabia due to various complexities.
The Saudi envoy also expressed his country鈥檚 investors鈥� and companies鈥� interest in implementing some projects in Bangladesh and handed over a list of those projects to the prime minister.
Sheikh Hasina, in reply, said that after scrutiny and examination, Bangladesh would take the next move.
In this connection, she assured him that the concerned ministries and divisions to look into the matter.
Talking about the Palestine issue, the prime minister said that Bangladesh was preparing another consignment of assistance for the Palestinian people as her country had already sent aid to them two times.
鈥楾he whole world is behind Palestine except the USA and its few allies,鈥� she said.
The Saudi ambassador mentioned that there were some 32 lakhs of Bangladeshis in his country who were contributing to both Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia鈥檚 economy.
The prime minister urged the envoy to take steps to encourage Bangladeshis living in Saudi Arabia to send their remittances to Dhaka through legal channels.
PM鈥檚 private industry and investment adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman, ambassador-at-large Mohammad Ziauddin and Prime Minister鈥檚 Office secretary Mohammad Salahuddin were present.
