Hasina returns to Bangladesh after ‘landmark’ Saudi Arabia visit

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has returned home after a five-day official visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

A special Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight carrying Hasina and her entourage took off from Medina’s Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport around 10:40am Tuesday local time.

It landed at Shahjalal International Airport at 7:50pm.

It was the prime minister’s first visit to the kingdom after King Salman’s ascend to the throne in January 2015. Her last visit was in November 2013 when she went to perform Umrah.

Hasina will brief the media on her latest tour on Wednesday at her official residence, Ganabhaban, in the capital.

On the night of Jun 3, after her arrival at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz welcomed her.

He then took the prime minister to a banquet in her honour at King Faysal Palace from the airport.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque termed the reception accorded to Hasina ‘unprecedented’. “No such visit under the king’s supervision took place in the last three decades,” he said.

Hasina performed Umrah in Makkah early on Saturday. She stayed the Royal Conference Palace during her stay in Jeddah.

On Sunday morning, the prime minister held a meeting with leaders of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) where she called for Saudi investment in Bangladesh.

Later in the afternoon, she held a bilateral meeting with King Salman at the monarch’s Al Salam Palace in Jeddah.

There, they both pledged to work together for world peace, development and upholding the interests of Muslims.

After the meeting, the foreign secretary had said, “The discussion has made it clear that powerful bonds exist [between the two countries] which we did not earlier see in such a perspective.”

Calling Hasina’s visit a ‘landmark’, Haque added, “I think we have achieved more success than we were ready for. The visit has not only opened a new chapter, but has also taken the relations to a new high.”

Saudi ministers for finance, foreign affairs, defence and other senior officials paid courtesy calls on the prime minister on the same day.

She also had a meeting with Saudi intelligence chief Gen Khalid bin Ali bin Abdullah al-Humaidan.

On Monday, Hasina went to Medina where she visited the shrine of Prophet Mohammad.

She also met with the Bangladeshi expatriates there.

The prime minister was accompanied by her younger sister Sheikh Rehana and a number of top government officials including Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and her Principal Secretary Abul Kalam Azad.

A 10-strong business delegation also went with her that included Beximco Vice-Chairman Salman F Rahman, FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad, S Alam Group Chairman Md Saiful Alam and Meghna Group Director Mostofa Kamal.