"We have decided to recruit skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workforce from Bangladesh," Qatar State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmad bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud told reporters after official talks with Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan.

There are many possibilities of investment in Bangladesh, the Qatar minister said, adding, "We had very fruitful discussions with Bangladesh on all fields and the outcome of the meeting is good."

The one and a half hours talks held at the foreign ministry covered the entire range of bilateral issues, including export of manpower, operation of air flights of Qatar Airways and Biman Bangladesh Airlines, investment, energy, health and cultural exchanges, officials said.

Yesterday's meeting was a follow-up to the recent talks between Emir of Qatar Al Thani and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in Doha on the sidelines of the second South Summit, foreign ministry officials said.

Qatar has started hosting international events and will host a number of such events in the days to come for which they will require about four lakh people, the foreign minister said while briefing reporters later.

Presently around 50,000 to 55,000 Bangladeshis are employed in the oil-rich Gulf state, and there is a broad indication that a similar number of workers might be recruited in next one and a half years, competent sources said.

Qatar recruited huge workforce from Bangladesh in 1988 under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was in effect for ten years, but the recruitment remained suspended since 1998 due to non-renewal of the MoU.

The recruitment process started again following the fruitful discussion between the Emir of Qatar Al Thani and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in Doha this month, Morshed Khan said, adding that the two sides have decided to operate seven flights a week.

Qatar Airlines will start it soon while Biman Bangladesh Airlines will reciprocate with the availability of aircraft.

Meanwhile, Qatar recently announced to recruit around 1.20 lakh workforce from Nepal after the Nepalese government allowed Qatar Airways to operate 12 flights in a week.

Earlier, Qatar asked for increase of its flights in Bangladesh from five flights a week, but at that time the civil aviation ministry declined the proposal, official sources said.

The Qatar delegation showed interest to import cement, medicine and IT related services from Bangladesh, Morshed Khan said, adding that Bangladesh and Qatar will soon sign a number of agreements and MoUs in trade, science and technological cooperation, cultural exchanges, avoidance of double taxation, and protection of investment etc.

A series of visits by ministries concerned will take place soon to finalise the deals and chalk out the areas of cooperation.

The two sides are eager to strengthen cooperation in IT and health sectors and the two governments will encourage the private sectors, joint chambers or joint investment committee to find out the prospective areas of Qatar's investment, Morshed Khan said.

Besides, a number of Middle Eastern countries have expressed interest to invest in Bangladesh, he added.