Bangladesh will highlight environment, sustainable development,  energy cooperation, investment, manpower export and immigration issues with Qatar during the visit of Chief Adviser Dr Mohammad Yunus to the Gulf country during the last week of this month, sources in Dhaka and Doha said

Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Professor Muhammad Yunus will attend ‘the Earthna Summit 2025” ---to be held in Doha, Qatar during April 22-23---at the invitation of Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

The upcoming Earthna Summit 2025 is poised to become a pivotal event for advancing sustainability in some of the world’s most arid environments. It promises to be a transformative event, uniting global leaders, innovators, and the community in a shared commitment to creating a sustainable legacy for future generations.

Dr. Gonzalo Castro de la Mata, Executive Director of Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future, a member of Qatar Foundation, in an interview with The Peninsula shared insights about the goals of this year’s summit, which builds on the success of the inaugural event in 2023.

“Building on the success of 2023, we aim to expand the Summit’s global reach and deepen our discussions on critical sustainability issues, reinforcing our ongoing commitment to advancing climate action and shaping sustainability policy in hot and arid environments,” said Dr. Mata.

“This year’s summit will showcase both national and global efforts, while building on conversations from the inaugural event and addressing timely topics like climate finance post-COP29.”

The Earthna Summit 2025 will bring together over 1,000 participants from more than 100 countries, including ministers, business leaders, academics, and youth leaders. With more than 75 speakers and 20 sessions, the summit will tackle key areas such as sustainable urbanism, traditional knowledge, biodiversity, and education.

Bangladesh is at the risk of climate change that threatens the livelihood of thousands of people and Chief Adviser Dr Mohammad Yunus will the discuss the issues with stakeholders concerned at the summit, sources said

It may be noted here that, this year the summit will be held under the theme “Building Our Legacy: Sustainability, Innovation, and Traditional Knowledge” and will highlight the compatibility between cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and innovation in addressing sustainability challenges.

The second edition of the Earthna Summit highlights Qatar’s commitment to advancing sustainability in hot and arid environments, by drawing on its rich cultural heritage and unique ecosystems.

The summit serves as a platform for exploring how the combination of both approaches can inform modern sustainability, shaping a more resilient and inclusive future.

It features an expert track for professionals, held during the day at the Mandarin Oriental and Bin Jelmood Museum.

In the late afternoon and evening, the Earthna Village in Baharat Msheireb hosts a community track with an exhibition space as well as a stage for speakers leading non-technical talks that foster dialogue and inspiration on

sustainability, innovation and traditional knowledge.

“The visit of Dr Mohammad Yunus to Qatar will result into establishment of strong friendship and engagement between the two countries,” said Bangladesh Ambassador to Qatar Md. Nazrul Islam while talking to this correspondent.

The invitation by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to  Dr Mohammad Yunus proves that both the sides keep the other leadership in high esteem, said Md Nazrul Islam.

Qatar enjoys a trade surplus with Bangladesh as the oil-rich Gulf country export petroleum goods to our country, said a director of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB)

Bangladesh’s export to Qatar stood at 31958080.37 US dollars (32 million US dollars) during July—June period of the 2022-23 fiscal year. Bangladesh’s export to  Qatar recorded at 17  million US dollars (17401319.33 US dollars) during July—February period of the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Bangladesh’s export to  Qatar recorded at 31 million US dollars ( 30630534.01 US dollars) during July—June period of the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Qatar exports to Bangladesh stood at 2366.5 million US dollars during the same period. Qatar exported goods worth 2080.0 million  US dollars (3.3 per of total import ) during 2023-24 fiscal year.

Md Nazrul Islam said that “It is expected that during the visit of Dr Yunus, the two countries will discuss a broad range of sectors, including economic and technical cooperation, trade and investment, defense cooperation, energy cooperation, employment of Bangladeshi skilled and semi-skilled work force in Qatar, climate change, education, charitable engagements, immigration, tourism, culture and sports, port handling and human resource development. A significant part of the discussion will also highlight the Palestine and Rohingya issues along with a few other international crises”.

To a question, Md Nazrul Islam said that around 350,000 Bangladeshis consider Qatar as their second home by participating in development activities of the Gulf country. Bangladesh expats enjoy the similarity of religion, social values and practices, foods and strong connectivity while living Qatar.  Bangladeshis are strongly interested to further contribute in the infrastructure and other developments and economic activities of Qatar”.

A top Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa) official said has also mentioned that Qatar is a unique country considering its size, resources and the amount of influence it cast in the world. The way Qatar advanced in the way of modernization and development keeping its social, cultural and religious traditions intact is truly exemplary. Qatar Emir has transformed the path to development which is hugely beneficial both to the Qataris and the expatriate communities. It can be rightly said that the expatriate communities are more comfortable in Qatar than in their own country.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1974, Bangladesh and Qatar have been maintaining exemplary bilateral relations.

He also said that commonness of religion and culture, regular bilateral visits, increase of manpower export and common position on regional and international issues have strengthen the bilateral between two countries.

Meanwhile, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani visited Bangladesh on April 22-23, 2024 with a big business delegation.

Meanwhile, former Head of Department of Chemical Engineering of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Professor Dr. Ijaz Hossain while talking to this correspondent said the visit of Professor Yunus to Qatar is a historic moment to Bangladesh.

He said that Bangladesh should pursue Qatar on deferred payment in energy import in some emergency situation as the country has been going through the dollar crisis.

He also said Bangladesh should welcome Qatar’s investment in setting up a petrochemical complex as the country does not have a polymer industry.

He also said that Bangladesh can also ask Qatar to give long term loan to Bangladesh at low interest rate in some development projects.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh exported a total of 810,151 workers to Qatar during 2004- 2024, sharing 6.47 per cent of total manpower export to the global manpower market. Bangladesh exported a total of 56,148 workers to Qatar in 2023. Bangladesh exported a total of 6,779 workers to Qatar during the January-February period of the current calendar year.

Bangladesh exported a total of 74,422 workers to Qatar during the January-December period of the last calendar year. Bangladesh exported a total of 14,033  workers to Qatar during the January-February period of the current calendar year.

Now Bangladeshi citizens are working in government, semi-government and private sectors of Qatar.  Bangladesh has started sending female workers to Qatar in 2013. In 2018 more than 3,000 female workers got their employment opportunities in Qatar……… The Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) of Qatar has revealed that the population of Qatar has surpassed three million in January 2024, marking a notable milestone in the country’s growth trajectory.

A leader of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agency (BAIRA) while talking to this correspondent said that Bangladesh should pursue Qatar to recruit increase recruitment of Bangladeshi workers as manpower export to Malaysia has dropped and Oman stopped recruitment of workers.

While talking to this correspondent, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Bangladesh and Qatar want to expand the existing ties with broader cooperation in the areas of manpower, energy, trade and investment following the planned visit of Dr Yunus to Qatar later this month.

The two countries are in discussion to finalise nearly a dozen cooperation documents which will be signed during the visit, said a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The State of Qatar recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign State on March 4, 1974 following the 2nd OIC Summit held in February 1974.

Bangladesh opened its diplomatic mission in Doha on June 25, 1975. The State of Qatar reciprocated by opening its diplomatic mission in Dhaka in 1982.

Bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Qatar are based on mutual respect, shared values, common religious ground, shared culture, and tradition.

Bangladesh and Qatar consider each other as brotherly countries and important development partners in materialising Bangladesh's Vision 2041 and Qatar's vision 2030.

Meanwhile, expatriate workers amount to around 88% of the population, the largest of which comprise South Asians, with those from India alone estimated to be around 700,000. Egyptians and Filipinos are the largest non-South Asian migrant group in Qatar.

Meanwhile, the existing 15-year agreement signed in 2017 to import LNG from Qatar will be effective till 2032, but it needs to sign a new contract to get the larger amount of energy after 2025, he said.

Describing Bangladesh as a friendly country that stood with Qatar in their tough days, they (Qatar) promised that they would consider all sorts of concessions whatever possible for Qatar during signing of the contract.

Meanwhile, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus recently  stressed the need for a deepening trade and investment relationship with Qatar.

He invited Qatari businesspeople to invest in Bangladesh and relocate their factories to the country's many economic zones.

"Bangladesh is now ready for business. We want Qatari businessmen to explore opportunities here in Bangladesh," Dr Yunus said, adding that Dhaka would hold an investment summit in early April.

Qatar has extended its full support to the reform agenda of Bangladesh's Interim goverment, the ambassador of the rich Gulf kingdom of Qatar, Seraya Ali Al-Qahtani, said.



Ambassador Al-Qahtani called on Dr Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna, where he conveyed the message from his government.