KSA promises to vaccinate Bangladeshi migrants

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has assured that all Bangladeshi migrants -- regular or irregular -- would be vaccinated and that they won't be forcibly sent back to Bangladesh.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said this to journalists at the foreign ministry yesterday, following a 10-day visit to the KSA and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Referring to his meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir in Riyadh, he said he expressed gratitude to Saudi authorities for providing treatment to the Bangladeshi migrants in the Kingdom during the coronavirus pandemic.

There has been an issue that those who became irregular were not eligible for the vaccination against Covid-19, Shahriar Alam said, adding that in response to his request, the Saudi minister assured of ensuring that the irregular workers also come under vaccination programme.

Al-Jubeir also assured that the Saudi authorities will not force any irregular migrants to return to Bangladesh.

The KSA is home to some 23 lakh Bangladeshis.

In the last several years, there were thousands of cases that undocumented Bangladeshis were detained and deported.

In some cases, they even had valid iqamas, but were deported because they were found by the police in places where they were not meant to work.

Shahriar Alam also said that the Bangladeshi migrant workers, whose passports have already expired and are yet to secure MRP passports from the missions concerned, will get a one-year extension of their hand-written passports and that the government will not charge the extension fees of Saudi Riyal 25.

"We are extending the passports of the migrants so that they have no problems in finding jobs," he said.

On reports that the KSA wants to send back 55,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh as they traveled to the Kingdom with Bangladeshi passports, Alam said Dhaka has proposed a joint commission comprised of officials from Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia for addressing the issues.

"There might be some irregularities [in the issuance of passports], but we need to conduct strict scrutiny. So, we have proposed the joint commission," he said.

Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia relations have widened over the last decade.

Saudi investors are interested in investing in the capacity building of Chittagong port and renewable energy.

This can happen under an agreement between Bangladesh's Public-Private-Partnership Authority and the Saudi authorities concerned.

Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have also expressed consensus to work together in the global arena against militancy and terrorism, as well as the anti-Muslim sentiment that has developed due to some extremist groups.

Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh will help Saudi Arabia, if required, by sending troops in the areas of minesweeping in the Saudi border, but not to join the Saudi coalition against Yemen.

"We are with Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia."

He proposed offers of contract farming both to the Saudi minister as well as the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

OIC has responded positively, asking Dhaka to prepare a policy on contract farming in all the OIC countries.

"We have achieved food autarky and developed skilled workforce and expertise. So, we should use it in other parts of the world to achieve food security," he said.