Qatar wants to hire Bangladeshi professionals, keen to invest in energy market

Gas-rich Qatar wants to hire Bangladeshi professionals and invest in the country’s LNG and power generation sector. Doha also pledged to support Bangladesh in international fora.

Those assurances came during Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali’s official visit to the Gulf country.

He reached Qatar on Saturday at the invitation of his counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani and met the Qatari leaders including Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani on Sunday, the foreign ministry said.

During his official talks with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhiat, both sides discussed issues a whole range of issues including trade and investment prospects, exploration of gas, LNG, infrastructure developments, power generation, defence, marine fisheries, people to people contact, and diplomatic land exchanges.

Currently, 380,000 Bangladeshis work in Qatar, and the foreign minister said Bangladesh could provide more professionals like doctors, nurses and teachers along with the traditional workers.

During the meeting, Qatari labour minister Dr Issa Saad Al-Jafali Al-Nuaimi expressed willingness to recruit professionals like doctors, engineers, IT experts, bankers and management specialists alongside semi-skilled and unskilled workers from Bangladesh.

Ali proposed Qatar to establish training facilities for Qatar-bound workers from Bangladesh to impart requisite training as per the job requirement and also in the Arabic language. He also proposed for developing a mechanism to establish a web-based direct connection between the employers and workers.

The Qatari prime minister lauded their “honesty and hard work”. He also praised the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for Bangladesh’s remarkable achievements.

During his meeting with Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed Bin Saleh Al Sada, they discussed ways to deepen the cooperation in the field of energy, gas, power generation and relevant fields.

The Qatar minister expressed “keen desire” to invest in Bangladesh in the LNG and power generation sectors citing the recent talks between RAS Gas and Petro-Bangla.

He informed that Nebras Power could visit Bangladesh to explore the possibility investment in power generation sectors in Bangladesh.

In this context, the Bangladesh foreign minister extended an invitation to the Qatari energy and industry minister to undertake a visit with an investment delegation to Bangladesh to experience the existing potentials in this sector.

Later, during his meeting with the Qatari prime minister when Ali repeated the invitation extended to the Energy Minister, the Prime Minister assured to arrange the visit soon.

Ali proposed to send a delegation of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) to visit Qatar to continue the discussion.

Citing the 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) set up by the government all over the country, he viewed that if Qatari investors want the Bangladesh government can offer an exclusive Zone for the Qatari investors.

Dr Mohamed Sada responded positively to undertake the visit to Bangladesh and hoped to work towards organising regular contacts at high official levels between the two sides in the energy sectors.

He further suggested that besides bilateral engagement, Bangladesh may consider entering into a framework economic cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to have a wider engagement in trade and investment not only with Qatar but also with the countries in the region.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Qatar in 2009, and later in 2012, she attended an international conference in Doha.

The foreign ministry said those visits opened “a new era” in bilateral relations, and the foreign minister’s visit would “strengthen” that further.

Qatar expressed gratitude to Bangladesh for its support to their candidature to the post of Director-General of UNESCO for the term 2017-21.

Ali sought Qatari support and assistance in Bangladesh’s bid to host the 45th OIC foreign ministers’ meeting in Dhaka in 2018 to which the Qatari Minister “extended full support”.

Ali also reiterated the invitation of President Md Abdul Hamid to the Emir of Qatar to visit Bangladesh to which the Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs replied by saying that “it may take place at a mutually agreed date early next year”.

Earlier, Ali visited the Bangladesh Embassy and the Bangladesh MHM School and College in Doha and inaugurated the two newly built academic blocks of the school that has been constructed with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s donation during her last visit to Qatar.