UAE would like to be a major investor in Bangladesh

The UAE Ambassador in Bangladesh, Sead Mohammed Sead Hamid AL-Mheiri, while replying to queries by journalists, said his country wants to be one of the major foreign investors in Bangladesh.

“We are the number one investor in many countries around the world and my country would like to be a major investor in Bangladesh too,” he said yesterday.

The newly-appointed envoy also said he will work for the welfare of the people of both countries during his tenure in Dhaka, adding that he is working to reopen the UAE labour market for Bangladeshis.

The ambassador was briefing a group of journalists on the Arab Coalition's major military and humanitarian aid operation in western Yemen -- launched recently to ensure the unimpeded supply of aid to the Yemeni people by liberating the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah from the Houthi rebels.

The Arab Coalition asks other nations and interested parties to intensify their efforts to support the political transition process and to support humanitarian efforts to meet the critical needs of the Yemeni people, he said.

Speaking at his office in the afternoon, the UAE ambassador explained that the operation around Hodeidah is aimed to alleviate the suffering of the civilians to create conditions favourable to achieving a negotiated settlement by cutting off the supply of illegal arms that have fueled the insurgency.

He said liberating Hodeidah and hastening the end of the conflict will also help to refocus fuller attention on the fight against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS, that present serious threats to Yemen's stability and to other countries targeted by these extremist groups.

Under the authority of the legitimate Yemeni government, the Arab coalition force was spearheaded by the Yemeni national army and local Yemeni resistance fighters, many from the Hodeida area, said the UAE Envoy.

Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states -- Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain began an air campaign aimed at restoring Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's government. The coalition received logistical and intelligence support from the US, UK and France.

In keeping with UN Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2286, the Arab coalition called on the Houthi rebels to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, to ensure the safety of civilians, including those receiving assistance, to ensure the respect and protection of all medical personnel and humanitarian personnel, and to facilitate the rapid, safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to the civilian population.