Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is flying to Riyadh with an intention to forge deeper economic and defence cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
During her fourth visit in three years, she is scheduled have an audience with King Salman bin Abdulaziz and is likely to have a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Oct 17.
The same day, she will inaugurate the Bangladesh Chancery building in Riyadh.
The prime minister is scheduled to leave Dhaka on Oct 16 and return on Oct 19.
She is also expected to have meetings with several senior Saudi ministers.
“It is a very important visit as it manifests the growing political engagement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia,” said a senior government official.
Dhaka wants to cement ties in the areas of trade and investment, and defence cooperation in which Saudi Arabia has immense interest, he added.
Bangladesh has emerged as an attractive investment destination and we will see a qualitative change in our bilateral relationship after the visit, he said.
The prime minister is scheduled to meet about 30 top businessmen who have interest in power, paper mills and other manufacturing sectors.
Businesses in Dhaka and Riyadh are expected to sign four or five memorandum of understandings that promise billions of dollars of investment flowing from the Kingdom country to the South Asia.
“We are also negotiating with the Saudi private sector to avail one exclusive economic zone in Chattogram (Chittagong) region,” the official said.
Both the countries are expected to sign a defence pact proposed by the Kingdom country, said another official.
“It will be a win-win situation if our defence cooperation enhances,” he said.
Dhaka will also seek Saudi help in resolving Rohingya crisis that put Bangladesh in awkward situation, he added.
The prime minister visited Saudi Arabia in 2016 on a bilateral visit followed by another visit next year to attend Arab Islamic-American (AIA) Summit in Riyadh where she had met US President Donald Trump.
In April this year, Hasina attended a joint military exercise ‘Gulf Shield-1’ in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam.