Several senior diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Qatar's former Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani had visited Bangladesh in 2005. Another Emir of Qatar is set to visit Bangladesh after almost two decades.
Qatar's diplomatic relations with the Arab League, particularly other Middle East countries and Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia, deteriorated in 2017, a diplomat said. Saudi Arabia at that time put heavy pressure on Bangladesh to take a position against Qatar but the country maintained a neutral position. That time.
One reason for this stance was that although Saudi Arabia is the largest human resource export market from Bangladesh, a large number of Bangladeshi expatriates also work in Qatar. As a result, Bangladesh actually favored Qatar between 2017 and 2021. This is why Qatar was happy with Bangladesh's stance.
According to this diplomat, the visit of this top leader of Qatar, a politically and economically powerful country among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries, is important in terms of political cooperation between the two countries.
