Bangladesh signs hajj agreement with KSA

Staff Reporter :
There will be no age restriction to perform hajj from this year as Bangladesh has signed Hajj agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The KSA authority has lifted age limit and now pilgrims aged over 65 will able to perform Hajj from this year.
As per agreement signed with KSA, a total of 127,198 pilgrims will go to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj this year.
The Saudi government has put restriction to perform hajj aged over 65 years last year due to coronavirus pandemic situation.
Bangladesh’s State Minister for Religious Affairs Faridul Haque Khan and Saudi Hajj and Umrah Affairs Minister Dr Tawfiq Bin Al Rabiah signed the agreement on the behalf of their respective countries on Monday in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier on January 7, a three-member team led by State Minister for Religious Affairs Faridul Haque Khan left the country for Saudi Arabia to sign the hajj deal.
“According to the agreement, 15,000 pilgrims will be able to perform hajj under government arrangement, while 112,198 through private agencies. Besides, 1,270 will go to Saudi Arabia as members of the Hajj team (administrative and medical),” Deputy Secretary of the Religious Affairs Ministry Abul Quasem Muhammad Shahin told The New Nation.
Under Route to Mecca initiative agreement, pilgrims would be able to complete their immigration in Dhaka prior to their departure to Saudi Arabia, he said.
On November 13, 2022, Bangladesh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed a bilateral document on the ‘Route to Mecca initiative’ which will ease the visit of Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims to the Kingdom.
“The hajj pilgrims must have to be vaccinated of coronavirus. Some 70 per cent hajj pilgrims can enter Saudi Arabia through Jeddah and the remaining 30 per cent through Medina,” Shahin said.
Pilgrims over aged 65 years who previously registered with different private hajj agencies will be given priority, Shahadat Hossain Taslim, President of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) told this correspondent over phone from Saudi Arabia.
“Many pilgrims over aged 65 years failed to perform hajj in the last few years. So, this time, these pilgrims will be given priority,” he added.
He further said that various hajj related activities including renting house in Saudi Arabia will be completed through e-management system.
According to the ministry, 127,000 people from Bangladesh performed Hajj in 2019 while the KSA government increased the quota for Bangladeshi pilgrims by 10,000 in 2020. But Hajj was not held in the year for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Only 60,000 people from Bangladesh were allowed to perform the Hajj in 2022 as the Saudi government halved the quotas for pilgrims in different countries.