Saudi Arabian Ambassador Abdullah Zafer bin Abiyah met Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed at the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Secretariat on Monday, where the issue of passport issuance for 69,000 Rohingyas living in Saudi Arabia took centre stage.
At the meeting, the ambassador raised the matter and stressed the importance of speeding up the passport issuance process.
In response, the home minister said 22,000 Rohingyas have already been issued Bangladeshi passports based on necessary documents and verification.
He said a special team from Bangladesh has already been sent to accelerate the process. He also warned that no corruption or irregularities will be tolerated in passport issuance.
The minister said, “Those Myanmar nationals who have Bangladeshi documents or meet the required conditions must be issued passports quickly.” He instructed that a complete list from Saudi Arabia be collected for re-verification.
Beyond the passport issue, the two sides also discussed law and order and security matters between the two countries, tourism, and increased Saudi investment in Bangladesh’s energy sector, along with other areas of mutual interest.
The minister said, “Saudi Arabia is one of Bangladesh’s closest and brotherly partners. There are many areas of cooperation between the two countries.” He added that there is significant scope for Saudi investment in energy and tourism, alongside manpower export, and called for exploring new cooperation areas.
The ambassador also invited the home minister to lead a high-level delegation to Saudi Arabia to further strengthen bilateral relations. The minister thanked him and said he may visit Saudi Arabia in the first half of July.
Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Monzur Morshed Chowdhury, Additional Secretary (Political Division) Ziauddin Ahmed and Deputy Secretary (Political-1) Begum Minara Naznin, along with senior officials, were present.
