The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Saudi Ambassador to Bangladesh Dr Abdullah Bin Naser Al-Busairi yesterday said that misdeeds of a few workers in Saudi Arabia would not affect all Bangladeshis working there.

"As of today (Monday), Saudi Arabia did not express its unwillingness to accept single Bangladeshi worker," he said at a press conference at the chancery building at Gulshan in the city.

The Saudi Ambassador said, on an average, 1,000 visas are being issued by the Embassy every office day, which proved that there is no problem with Bangladeshi workers. The figure may go up or down as per requirements from the recruiting agencies in Saudi Arabia, where around 17 lakh Bangladeshi workers are employed now.

"Bangladesh's workers in Saudi Arabia are in a better position and there is no possibility of being affected," he observed.

The Saudi envoy, however, said that a section of recruiting agencies in Bangladesh sent workers without providing them proper training and guidelines on social and cultural aspects of the Kingdom.

Terming the bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh deep rooted and historic, he said minor issues could not affect the relation which is growing grows from strength to strength.

On poor wages for the Bangladeshi workers in the KSA, Abdullah Bin Naser said recruiting agencies in Bangladesh could bargain in this regard with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia.

Replying to a question, he said a worker only needs a passport, medical check up, a visa and airfare to go to Saudi Arabia. "If any recruiting agency realises excessive money from the workers, Bangladesh government should check it," he said.

He also suggested that Bangladesh government should arrange meetings with workers to know how much they have to pay to their recruiting agencies to go abroad with a job.

The Saudi Ambassador told reporters that a three-day international dialogue among the followers of different divine religions begins in Madrid, Spain tomorrow with a view to concentrating the spheres of characters and humanities of the societies of mankind and establishing common interest.

King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia, is expected to inaugurate the dialogue, he said.

The Saudi King took the initiative to hold the dialogue aiming at making human relations between the prophets of different religions, cultures and faiths for spreading peace, love and harmony among them as well as to establishing peace, security, stability and human development across the globe.

The Saudi Ambassador quoted the opinion of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as saying, "Now-a-days our world is passing a critical moment, which results in conflict and confrontation among the societies and increases suppression and enmity among them. This phenomenon has been witnessed by our contemporary world, which has bad impact globally on peace and security and created continuous clash among the nations and communities."

He also referred to the opinion of the Saudi King that the human societies of different faiths witness unstable conditions and mixed thoughts and ethics because of their material greediness and saying aloof from the human ethical characters on which every man has been originally created. They are goodness, piousness, wisdom and good character.

The Saudi Ambassador also quoted Dr Abdullah Bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki, Secretary General of the Muslim World League, which is the sponsor of the dialogue, as saying, "The renowned personalities of specialists in dialogue, from the followers of different divine messages will participate in the conference and discuss matters related to life of human societies, international cooperation, human rights, peace, security and co-existence in the world."

The participants will discuss the future of dialogue and the efforts of the countries and international organisations for strengthening the dialogue and fighting the challenges and the importance of information and its impact on spreading the culture of dialogue and co-existence among the nations, he said.