Qatar will invest up to $5bn in Bangladesh for infrastructure development, including projects in power sector, roads, airport and river dredging, Mohammed Hussein, the outgoing ambassador of Bangladesh has said.
"Bangladesh and Qatar share excellent relations. The two countries cooperate significantly in all regional and international fora to ensure the interests of both the countries," the ambassador told Al Sharq on the sidelines of a farewell function held in his honor recently.
Hussein praised Qatar's commitment for large size of investments in Bangladesh, to the tune of $5bn which will be directed to develop the Dhaka airport and a power plant to generate electricity, among other projects.
Once the proposed power plant is ready, it will generate about 1000 megawatts of electricity for the power hungry nation. "Qatar has also approved to deposit $1.8bn in the central bank of Bangladesh", the ambassador was quoted as saying.
The ambassador said that Qatar and Bangladesh enjoys very healthy and friendly relations, and presently more than 100,000 Bangladeshis are working in different sectors of the Qatari economy.
"The number of Bangladeshi workers in the country will witness a rise in the coming days. As Qatar is preparing to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Bangladesh is looking forward to play a significant role by providing more manpower and other necessary facilities to carry out the ambitious projects," he added.
He also said that the volume of trade between the two countries was increasing rapidly. This could be understood from the example that currently, Bangladesh imports about four million tons of urea which is equivalent to four times the size of urea imported four years ago.
Bangladesh has also signed agreements with Qatar to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). "In the meantime, growing trade ties between the two countries will further deepen and strengthen bilateral relations," said the envoy.
The Peninsula
28 September
