On this very auspicious occasion of the 46th Independence and National Day of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, I convey my heartfelt congratulations and warm greetings to our respected members of Bangladesh community living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This great day as we celebrate, I pay my deep respect to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the nation to independence through a glorious War of Liberation in 1971. I pay tribute to all the valiant freedom fighters for their supreme sacrifices for attaining independence of our motherland. My deep respect is to the martyrs of Liberation War and all those millions of people who withstood all the sufferings in the War of Liberation. I would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman for his generous support for Bangladesh. We would also like to express our deep appreciation to the government of Saudi Arabia for a positive decision in employing workforce from Bangladesh. The extraordinary kindness and generosity of King Salman and the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia to Bangladesh is always reverenced by the people and government of Bangladesh. We deeply appreciate the government and people of Saudi Arabia for facilitating the Haj and Umrah pilgrimage with an increased number of our citizens this year. We also thank the government of Saudi Arabia for financing several developments projects in Bangladesh under SFD. The visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the Kingdom in June 2016 marks a milestone in the Saudi-Bangladesh relations. During the visit the Prime Minister had a fruitful discussion with the King to further intensify relations between the two brotherly nations. The Prime Minister assured all support and cooperation to Saudi Arabia, including deployment of Bangladeshi soldiers to protect the Two Holy Sites of Islam as and when asked for. These excellent relations between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia may be attributed to the fact that both countries share common perspectives, values and commitments. The government of Saudi Arabia has launched "the Saudi Vision 2030" which offers Bangladesh to look at new areas of engagement and cooperation with Saudi Arabia. Similarly, Bangladesh's Vision 2021 (of emergence as a Middle Income Country) and the Vision 2041 (of emergence as a developed country) announced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina place Bangladesh as a fast-growing economic opportunity to invest and do business with beneficial terms, allowing Kingdom to consider it as an investment destination. Bangladesh, one of the top troops contributing countries for UN peacekeeping operations around the globe, has been playing an active role in peace building and promotion of democracy in the war-torn countries for the international order for protection and promotion of the interest of all nations. Bangladesh's enlightened and forward looking foreign policy had made the country an important role player in the UN, NAM, OIC, Commonwealth and other international and regional organizations. Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia can work together for global peace and stability through UN and OIC. We hope to build our relations on the achievements of these recent productive engagements to set up a future of even closer cooperation and understanding — both at the bilateral and multilateral levels between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. We would like to see the peoples of both countries to herald a defining moment of raising our relationship to a new height in the coming days, particularly with more trade and investment between the two brotherly countries. On this day I would urge upon all the members of Bangladesh community to continue their valuable support to accelerate the socio-economic developments of our beloved motherland and to further strengthen the excellent relationship that exists between our two brotherly countries. Joi Bangla. Joi Bangabandhu.
