Hasina reaches Riyadh to start four-day Saudi Arabia tour  

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has flown to Riyadh on a four-day tour of Saudi Arabia at the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Sumon Mahbub from Riyadhbdnews24.com
Published : 16 Oct 2018, 12:11 PM
Updated : 16 Oct 2018, 05:48 PM

She was accorded a red-carpet reception after her plane touched down at King Khalid International Airport at 6:51pm local time on Tuesday.

Riyadh Deputy Governor Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Media Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad, Bangladesh Ambassador Golam Moshi and his Saudi counterpart Abdullah HM Al-Mutairi, a representative of the Royal Protocol and other senior civil and military officials welcomed her.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, the Awami League President’s Private Sector Development Affairs Adviser Salman F Rahman, his wife Syeda Rubaba Rahman, and some members of the prime minister’s family are accompanying Hasina. 

The prime minister left Dhaka on a special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines around 3:30pm.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Road and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Shahjahan Kamal, senior government officials including IGP saw her off at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

Two memorandums of understanding – one on defence and the other on ICT – will be signed during the visit, Foreign Minister Ali said at a media briefing on Monday.

The prime minister will meet King Salman in the Saudi capital on Wednesday. She will inaugurate a newly constructed building at the Bangladesh embassy there.

Hasina will also attend a business seminar hosted by the Council of Saudi Chambers on Wednesday.

The prime minister will also perform Umrah in Makkah and offer prayers at the grave of Prophet Muhammad in Madinah on Oct 18.

It is her second visit to the oil-rich Gulf kingdom this year.

In April, Bangladesh participated in the ‘Gulf Shield-1’ joint military exercise with the kingdom along with 22 other countries. The prime minister attended the concluding session of the exercise at the invitation of the king.

She attended the ‘Arab Islamic American Summit’ in May 2017.

Previously, she visited the kingdom in 2016 at the invitation of the king.

The prime minister will return home on Friday.