Dhaka wants voluntary OIC Covid-19 response and recovery fund

Dhaka has sought Saudi support to create a voluntary Organisation of Islamic Countries Covid-19 response and recovery fund by willing member countries.

This was discussed during a call made by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud to Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday, said a foreign ministry statement today.

"This is basically for the most vulnerable OIC member countries. For Bangladesh, the fund could be used for job creation of Bangladeshi migrants working in many of the Gulf countries," said a foreign ministry official.

With lowering of oil prices and the fallout from the global Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of migrant workers in the Gulf may lose jobs, which could affect the remittance inflow to Bangladesh. Meanwhile, job creation at home also remains a challenge, with possible low demand of foreign workers in the Gulf and Southeast Asian countries. Bangladesh's RMG sector is already feeling the pinch as orders of over 3 billion USD have already been cancelled.

During the conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal, Momen said Saudi Arabia can employ the Bangladeshis in the agriculture sector as the Bangladeshis have expertise in the field.

Momen also requested Saudi Arabia's public and private investors to invest in the livestock sector in Bangladesh to process beef and chicken and import the halal food items from here.

He apprised Prince Faisal of Bangladesh's capacity to produce quality PPEs and expressed Bangladesh's capacity to export them.

Momen also sought Saudi support in repatriating 1.1 Rohingya refugees who were forcefully displaced from Myanmar to Bangladesh, mostly in 2017 following a brutal military campaign against them.