Home Affairs Advisor Lieutenant General Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (Retd.) has urged the Saudi Ambassador to take more manpower from Bangladesh.
He made this call during a courtesy call on the advisor on Wednesday (April 09, 2025) morning at his office in the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
The meeting discussed various issues related to passport issuance/re-issuance in favor of 69,000 Bangladeshi citizens living in Saudi Arabia without valid passports, including various issues of mutual interest.
Welcoming the ambassador at the beginning of the meeting, the advisor said that Saudi Arabia is one of the largest partners in the development of Bangladesh. As a single country, the largest number of Bangladeshis are working in Saudi Arabia. Currently, 3.2 million Bangladeshis are working in different sectors in Saudi Arabia. He sought the ambassador’s cooperation to increase it to 4 million.
Stating that Saudi Arabia’s all-round cooperation in the development of Bangladesh will continue, the ambassador said that in addition to manpower export, there is immense support between the two countries in various sectors including business, trade, investment, tourism and culture. He said that Saudi Arabia has always been by Bangladesh’s side and will continue to be in the near future. He also said that during the COVID-19 period, Saudi Arabia’s flights with several countries including the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan were suspended, but they were operational with Bangladesh.
The ambassador said that according to the policy adopted by the royal Saudi government, a valid passport is necessary to obtain legal facilities including living and working in that country. According to the information of the Saudi government, the number of people who have entered the country with Bangladeshi passports/travel documents at different times since the independence of Bangladesh, but currently there are approximately 69,000 people who do not have a valid passport. He said that during discussions at various levels of government, the Saudi authorities had been requesting the Bangladesh government to issue/renew passports to 69,000 people. The advisor said that a protocol was signed between the two countries in this regard and all kinds of cooperation will be provided by the Bangladesh government.
The meeting was attended by Md. Khoda Baksh Chowdhury, Special Assistant to the Principal Advisor on Home Affairs, Nasimul Ghani, Senior Secretary of the Home Ministry, and senior officials of the Home and Foreign Ministries.
