Bangladesh-Saudi Arabia JEC meeting underway in Riyadh

The 12th meeting of the  joint economic commission (JEC) of Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia started in Riyadh on Wednesday.

The two-day meeting started discussing cooperation in the fields of labor, finance, investment, trade, customs, air transport, agriculture, education, international and social issues.

Bangladesh’s 17-member delegation at the meeting is being led by Kazi Shafiqul Azam, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD).

Bangladeshi Ambassador in Saudi Arabia Golam Masih and Secretary to the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Dr. Namita Halder took part in the meeting, that on its first day discussed signing some important memoranda relating to the JEC.

ERD Secretary Kazi Shafiqul Azam said, "There is excellent friendly and fraternal relationship between Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, which relies on collective culture, religion, history and heritage."

He said the economic development of Bangladesh is on the rise, noting over the last decade how GDP growth has been consistently above 6 percent per year, and in the last fiscal tipped past 7 percent.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has already entered the lower rungs of middle income status as a country, that is on its way to becoming entrenched as a middle income country by 2021.

Kazi Shafiqul Azam urged the Saudi government to set up a training center in Bangladesh to recruit more suitably trained manpower to Saudi Arabia.

He requested recruitment of skilled manpower from Bangladesh in the IT, Engineering, Accounting and Banking sectors.

Issues related to labor and the controversial retaining of migrant laborers working in Saudi Arabia were discussed in the meeting.

A total of 26 representatives of Saudi Arabia's various ministries and other organizations attended the meeting.

Source: unb