Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen has sought support of Saudi Arabia to create a voluntary ‘OIC Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund’ by the willing member countries.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the international organisation of 57 Muslim countries. The foreign minister has been pushing for such a fund to help the migrant workers abroad, mostly in the Muslim Middle-eastern countries, who lost jobs due to pandemic.
The foreign ministry said on Thursday that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud phoned Dr. Momen on Wednesday.
During the conversation, Dr Momen sought the support for the fund and requested Prince Faisal to employ Bangladeshi workers in the agriculture sector of Saudi Arabia.
He requested public and private investors of Saudi Arabia to invest in the livestock sector in Bangladesh to process beef and chicken.
He also requested his Saudi counterpart to import halal beef and chicken from Bangladesh.
In addition, Dr. Momen appraised Prince Faisal about Bangladesh’s capacity to produce good quality PPEs and expressed Bangladesh’s capacity to export them.
Dr. Momen sought Saudi support in repatriating 1.1 Rohingyas who were forcefully displaced from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
The Saudi Foreign Minister enquired about the COVID situation in Bangladesh.
Dr. Momen briefed him about the current situation, the foreign ministry said.
