<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">State Minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam has said Bangladesh needs "brotherly support" from Saudi Arabia to fulfill its energy demands amid global oil crisis due to Russia- Ukraine war.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He made the remark while Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yousef Essa Al Duhailan paid a courtesy call on him at foreign ministry here on Monday, a foreign ministry press release said today.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">In reply, the envoy assured that he would take up the oil supply issue with the concerned Saudi stakeholders.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">During the meeting, the Ambassador expressed satisfaction at the state of excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia which is growing rapidly in various fields including political, economic, defence, manpower, business, trade and investment.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The envoy apprised the State Minister about the follow-up of the visit by the Saudi Deputy Interior Minister to Dhaka in last November 2022.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He also updated him about the increasing engagement of Saudi investors in various fields including potential Saudi investment in the EEZ earmarked for Saudi Arabia.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Alam stated that his office was ready to push forward any issues/proposals from the Saudi side in making headways.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The Saudi Envoy also apprised the Minister about the recent terrorist activities conducted by the Houthis in Arab peninsula despite ceasefire.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He appreciated the role of Bangladesh in supporting Saudi Arabia and in denouncing terrorism against the Houthis.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The State Minister underlined the need to engage more efforts to scale up bilateral collaboration with Saudi Arabia beyond the traditional labour market and Hajj and Umrah.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He stated that Saudi Arabia was playing a more visible role in multilateral fora which is encouraging for the Muslim Ummah.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Alam stressed the need for expanding collaboration in the new and emerging areas through time-bound and target-oriented roadmap and expedite pending investment agenda and new areas of collaboration. BSS</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/kh</div>