Ambassador of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh Essa Youssef Essa Al Duhailan on Sunday said that Saudi oil company Aramco was willing to establish a refinery at Sitakunda in Chattogram to produce petroleum products for Bangladesh and their exports to other countries in the region.
鈥楢ramco is willing to come to Bangladesh to establish a refinery at Sitakunda for Bangladesh and the region as well,鈥� the envoy said while addressing the launching of the report titled 鈥楨nhancing Saudi-Bangladesh Economic Engagement: Trends, Key Challenges & Long-term Growth Prospects鈥� at the foreign ministry in Dhaka.
He said that their biggest renewable energy company ACWA Power was also willing to invest in Bangladesh.
The Saudi ambassador, however, mentioned that a high-profile team from Aramco visited Bangladesh earlier when nobody even received them in Dhaka, saying they would not talk about the past now, but would rather look forward.
鈥楽audi Arabia always supports Bangladesh and its journey. Saudi Arabia never says no to Bangladesh and Bangladesh does so to Saudi,鈥� he said, welcoming the interim government鈥檚 reform initiatives in various sectors, particularly those related to governance.聽
Speaking as chief guest, finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said that Aramco was not welcomed in the past although the Saudi company was willing to invest in Bangladesh.
鈥榃e are now paying for the wrong policy taken in the past鈥ur plan is to leave some foot-prints through reforms in one and a half years or in two years. Making reforms is not always pleasant,鈥� he said.
Salehuddin said that the trade between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia could be raised to $200 billion from $2 billion presently.
Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain said that they need to develop skills of the people for higher remittance as well for its own development.
He deplored that Bangladesh was yet to become an investment-friendly country on the practical ground.聽
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared the report with the support of independent advisery firm Policy Exchange Bangladesh.聽
Policy Exchange Bangladesh chairman and chief executive officer M Masrur Reaz made a presentation on the report while the foreign ministry鈥檚 secretary (East) Md Nazrul Islam gave a welcome speech at the event chaired by聽 foreign secretary Md Jashim Uddin.
Masrur said that Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia shared a five-decade long diplomatic and economic partnership, with bilateral trade reaching $2.1 billion in 2023.
Saudi Arabia being the destination for roughly 33 per cent of total overseas employment for Bangladesh had pledged significant investments in energy, logistics and manufacturing for shared growth, he added.