'Padma Bridge will help open up the eyes of foreign investors'

The Padma Bridge will help open up the eyes of international investors including the Saudi companies to give a serious look at Bangladesh as an investment destination, the Saudi envoy in Dhaka said on Monday.

“I admire Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for taking the revolutionary step of self-financing to build the Padma Bridge,” Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yousef Essa Al Duhailan told reporters at the embassy.

He said Padma Bridge is one of Bangladesh’s most significant achievements that helped accomplish the people’s dream.

On behalf of the custodians of the two holy mosques, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the ambassador congratulated President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government as well as the people of Bangladesh ahead of the historic day of the formal inauguration of the mega project.

Responding to a question, ambassador Duhailan said the Saudi companies are increasingly looking at Bangladesh as an investment destination and hoped to see some visible steps soon to that end.    

He said the Padma Bridge is a unique project nationally and internationally and it will help Bangladesh think beyond and build more infrastructures in the future. “It’ll put Bangladesh in a higher position.”

The ambassador appreciated Bangladesh’s political stability and overall security environment which he thinks very favorable to foreign investors.     

The Saudi envoy said PM Hasina has proven repeatedly that she is the daughter of Bangabandhu whose visionary idea had boosted the country’s economy to new heights.

“Her capacity to make swift decisions in keeping the country’s economy on track is marvelous despite the fact that many big nations have struggled under similar circumstances,” said ambassador Duhailan.

He extended good wishes to the people of Bangladesh whose joint efforts are helping establish a stronger and progressive Bangladesh as dreamt by Bangabandhu to build Sonar Bangla.

PM Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the Padma Bridge on June 25.