Description

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide and in-home, Bangladesh Government sent a medical team and supplies to Kuwait under the ‘Operation Kuwait Punargathan (OKP)’ programme to assist this Middle Eastern country in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. This support has been part of the commitment of Bangladesh to provide continuous support to rebuild Kuwait after the first Gulf War in 1991. For the last 30 years, Bangladesh has been working relentlessly in the Middle East as an important partner of security, development, and progress in this region. This can be substantiated by giving another example. In 2015, Bangladesh joined Saudi Arabia-based 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism worldwide (Browning, 2015). By joining the Islamic Military Alliance (IMA), Bangladesh has committed to participate in the military alliance of 34 countries under the leadership of Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism and terrorist activities around the Muslim world. Therefore, this chapter argues that Bangladesh is now considered an active and capable partner country in the Muslim world, which provides significant support to the alliance, primarily initiate counter-terrorist interventions in the Middle East (ME). Under the prudent and visionary leadership of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh adopted various diplomatic efforts to lay the foundation of Bangladesh-Middle East relations. Stand on this, Bangladesh has been able to strengthen this foundation. Taking this into account, this chapter intends to roll back over the history of Bangladesh-Middle East relations since independence in 1971. This chapter aims to discuss key variables that are deepening Bangladesh’s relations with the Middle East.