Bangladesh didn’t sign army deployment deal with Saudi: Foreign Minister

Bangladesh did not sign any agreement with Saudi Arabia over deployment of troops as it only inked a Memorandum of Understanding on defence cooperation, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told parliament today.

Taking part in the thanksgiving motion on the President’s speech, he said, under the Memorandum of Understanding, there is a firm conviction of not taking any measure against any third party.

Speaking in the parliament on February 14, two senior lawmakers – Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon and Opposition Jatiya Party MP Fakhrul Imam – demanded a statement from the foreign minister whether the signing of a ‘defence pact’ between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia is contradictory to the Constitution.

The foreign minister in his speech in the parliament said signing of the MoU has is no way violated the Constitution of Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have signed no agreement over troop deployment. Rather an MoU has been inked on defence related affairs. So, no question can be raised ….it didn’t violate Article 25 of the Constitution through this MoU,” the minister said.

The main theme of the MoU is to contribute in enhancing international stability through mutual cooperation, he said.

According to the MoU, the defence forces of the two countries will cooperate with each other in military training, exercise, education, medical treatment, research and defence industry, exchange military information, intelligence information, military visits and skills and participate in sociocultural activities, he said.

The foreign minister informed the House that under the MoU, the signatories will also cooperate with each other in different areas, including military protection and facing pirates.

Following the request of Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh has promised to extend its hands of cooperation in case of facing any possible threat on the two holy mosques — Makkah and Medina — he added.

The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is committed to upholding the dignity of the Constitution.