The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has expressed its interest to invest in Bangladesh under the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Prime Minister’s Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman said on Saturday.

Dr Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, minister of commerce and investment of Saudi Arabia, expressed such interest when Salman F Rahman requested for Saudi investment during his visit to the KSA.

The adviser sought investment under the Fund for constructing railway track from Dhaka to Payra Port and also for transforming Cox’s Bazar airport as an international standard airport.

Salman Rahman said this at a press conference at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on his return home, said a press release.

The adviser led a 22-member high-level delegation in Saudi Arabia from September 18 holding various meetings with the ministers and other important dignitaries of the Kingdom.

He informed that during his meeting with the Saudi commerce minister, Bangladesh sought duty free access of some 137 Bangladeshi products to Saudi market side by side sought support of the Kingdom for signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) proposed earlier in 2018 on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.

During the tour, the adviser held meetings with the Saudi investment minister, transport minister and the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce where they discussed about ways to boost bilateral trade and attracting more investment in Bangladesh as well as setting up special an economic zone for the Saudi investors.

The delegation members included Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Executive Chairman M Sirazul Islam, Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) Executive Chairman Sheikh Yusuf Harun and PPP Authority Chief Executive Officer Sultana Afroz.