KUWAIT CITY, April 25: Bangladeshi Ambassador to Kuwait Major General M D Ashiq Al- Zaman has affirmed the development of relations and cooperation between the two countries; indicating Kuwait was the first Gulf country to recognize the independence of Bangladesh in 1973, reports Al-Qabas daily. Speaking on the sidelines of the Ramadan Ghabga held in his residence recently, Al-Zaman disclosed the diplomatic relationship between the two countries was established in 1974; asserting that since then, their ties have been developing in various fields, especially the military aspect. He pointed out the Bangladeshi community in Kuwait is large -- with a population of 234,000; but most of them are untrained workers, so the embassy is working hard to bring more trained workers.

He also confirmed that a contract was concluded with a company which needs 1,000 trained workers but the embassy provided only 700 such workers. He clarified there is no ban on the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers, but the sponsor is required to obtain a ‘no objection’ certificate. “I discussed this issue with the concerned officials at the Ministry of Interior. We also submitted a request for our minister of foreign affairs to visit Kuwait, but the visit was postponed due to restrictions related to the corona pandemic. We will try to arrange the visit in August or September in order to sign a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries, so that many of our trained workers can come to Kuwait,” he explained.

Talking about the military relations between the two countries; he stated there are about 5,000 soldiers in the Kuwaiti Army; including 3,000 soldiers and regular officers, and the rest are doctors who work in military hospitals and logistic workers. He added there are 16 memorandums of understanding between the two countries and some of them should be updated.