DHAKA
\nBangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud sought cooperation for the import of crude oil during a meeting with his Saudi counterpart in Jeddah, as the South Asian nation works to secure support to help address challenges in its fragile economy.
\nMahmud met with the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on the sidelines of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Jeddah on Tuesday, where they joined other foreign ministers to discuss Israel\u2019s ongoing aggression in Palestine.
\n\u201cDuring the meeting, (the) Bangladesh foreign minister expressed satisfaction on the level of bilateral engagement between the two brotherly countries and hoped that such cooperation would deepen in the coming days,\u201d the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a release.
\n\u201cHe looked forward to further (augmenting) sectoral cooperation between the two countries and (increasing) trade and investment opportunities. Foreign Minister Mahmud (also) sought cooperation in crude oil purchase.\u201d
\nBangladesh imports most of its oil needs and requires about 1.5 million metric tons of crude oil annually, according to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corp., which controls the import and marketing of fuel in the country.
\nAs the nation is struggling to pay for some imported fuel due to its dwindling foreign reserves, a deferred payment facility from Saudi Arabia will be helpful, said BPC Deputy General Manager Zahid Hossain.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s very important as we are importing a large volume of crude oil from Saudi Arabia \u2026 If we can achieve this opportunity, it will definitely be a great support for us,\u201d Hossain told Arab News on Wednesday.
\nBangladesh currently imports around 700,000 metric tons of crude oil from Saudi Aramco and has so far managed to pay the Kingdom on time with the help of funds from the Jeddah-based International Islamic Trade Finance Corp., he added.
\n\u201cIf we can defer the payment longer than 30 days, we would be able to use this ITFC fund to import other refined petroleum products. So, it will ease our financial burden to some extent,\u201d he said.
\nA deferred payment facility from Saudi Arabia will \u201cplay a very significant role\u201d in easing the economic crisis in Bangladesh, said Dr. Ijaz Hossain, an energy expert and professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
\n\u201cDue to the dollar crunch, we are facing many difficulties in purchasing the oil. But we are expecting that things will improve in the coming days, and it has to improve. Otherwise, we have to readdress many other issues in the economy,\u201d Hossain told Arab News.
\n\u201cThe opportunity of a deferred payment for oil import will be a great help for us. In fact, it\u2019s a desperate need of the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DHAKA Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud sought cooperation for the import of crude oil during a meeting with his Saudi counterpart in Jeddah, as the South Asian nation works to secure support to help address challenges in its fragile economy. Mahmud met with the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on the sidelines of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-391974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n