Bangladesh seeks Qatar’s coop for addl LNG supply

Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh has sought the cooperation of Qatar to consider additional supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Bangladesh to meet the growing demand for industrial growth in the country.
The government of Bangladesh has also requested the Qatari side for considering investment in High-Tech parks, special economic zones as well as in the construction and the energy sectors. The Qatari side requested Bangladesh to send specific proposals in this regard.
Bangladesh made the requests during the 2nd Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) Meeting between Bangladesh and Qatar held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar on Monday.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Md. Shahriar Alam, led the Bangladesh delegation while the Qatari delegation was led by State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.
During the meeting, two delegations took stock and reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral, regional, and multilateral issues between the two countries.
The issues that came up for discussions included enhanced cooperation in skilled manpower and human resource development, increased business to business contact, visa waiver for diplomats and officials between the two countries, collaboration on food security, education and health, energy and power, civil aviation etc.
They also expressed keen interests in recruiting nurses, medical professionals and technicians from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has also sought Qatari support for a sustainable solution to Rohingya crisis.
During the meeting, Bangladesh side reiterated the invitation to the Amir of Qatar from the President of Bangladesh. The Qatari side informed that the Amir of Qatar may undertake a visit to Bangladesh next year.
Both sides expressed their resolve to further consolidating the existing bond of friendship and to take them to new heights.
During the meeting, the two Ministers signed an Agreement on visa waiver for diplomatic, official and special passport holders between Bangladesh and Qatar.
Both sides agreed to sign agreements on Avoidance of double Taxation, Cultural
Cooperation, Legal Fields collaboration, MoU on Education, and Cooperation on Waqf and Islamic Affairs etc. during the upcoming high level visit.
The next round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) will be held in Dhaka in 2023.