Qatar willing to hire BangladeshisShows interest to invest in energy sectorFE DeskQatar has expressed its interest to recruit Bangladeshi professionals and invest in the country's LNG and power generation sector.The gas-rich Gulf nation has also pledged to support Bangladesh in international forums, reports bdnews24.com.The assurances came during foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali's official visit to the gulf country.He reached Qatar on Saturday at the invitation of his counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani and met the Qatari leaders including Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani on Sunday, the foreign ministry said.During his official talks with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhiat, both sides discussed a whole range of issues covering trade and investment prospects, exploration of gas, LNG, infrastructure developments, power generation, defence, marine fisheries, people to people contact, and diplomatic land exchanges.At present, 380,000 Bangladeshis work in Qatar, and the foreign minister said Bangladesh could supply more professionals like doctors, nurses and teachers along with the traditional workers.During the meeting, Qatari labour minister Dr Issa Saad Al-Jafali Al-Nuaimi expressed willingness to recruit professionals like doctors, engineers, IT experts, bankers and management specialists alongside the semi-skilled and unskilled workers from Bangladesh.Mr Ali proposed Qatar to establish training facilities for Qatar-bound workers from Bangladesh to impart requisite training as per job requirements alongside their orientation in Arabic language.He also proposed developing a mechanism to establish a web-based direct connection between the employers and workers.The Qatari PM lauded the Bangladeshi workers' "honesty and hard work". He also praised the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for Bangladesh's remarkable achievements.During the FM's meeting with Qatari Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed Bin Saleh Al Sada, they discussed ways to deepen cooperation in the field of energy, gas, power generation and relevant fields.The Qatari minister expressed "keen desire" to invest in Bangladesh in the LNG and power generation sectors citing the recent talks between RAS Gas and Petrobangla.He noted Nebras Power officials could visit Bangladesh to explore the possibility of investment in power generation sectors.In this context, the Bangladesh FM extended an invitation to the Qatari energy and industry minister to plan a visit with an investment delegation to Bangladesh to experience the existing potentials in this sector.Later, during his meeting with the Qatari prime minister when Ali repeated the invitation extended to the Energy Minister, the PM assured him of arranging the visit soon.Mr Ali proposed to send a delegation of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) to visit Qatar to follow up the discussion.Citing the 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to be set up by the government all over the country, the FM said the Bangladesh government can offer an exclusive zone for the Qatari investors if they're interested.Dr Mohamed Sada responded positively to undertake the visit to Bangladesh and hoped to work towards organising regular contacts at high official levels between the two sides in the energy sector.

Source: bd News24 May 08, 2017 16:18 UTC