Minister for Climate Change and Environment Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zayudi met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Sunday on the sidelines of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in Bangkok, the foreign ministry said.



They discussed wide-range of bilateral issues including “reopening” of UAE’s labour marker for Bangladeshis and welfare of migrant workers.



A UAE delegation is scheduled to visit Bangladesh soon to assess its demand for Bangladeshi workers.



The state minister referred to that visit during the meeting, and hoped that the visit would pave the way of “reopening” UAE market for Bangladeshi migrant workers.



The UAE minister then said they would “certainly” consider that in future in view of the growing demands for foreign workers.



With over 1.2 million workers in the oil-rich emirate, the UAE is the second largest destination for Bangladesh’s labour.



But in recent years they have stopped taking new workers as the UAE was said to be overhauling its manpower recruitment process.



The state minister also requested for some “good stalls” for Bangladesh at Expo 2020 in UAE.



The UAE minister suggested Bangladesh to take advantage of the ‘Abu Dhabi Fund’ for climate change and renewable energy for introducing new technologies for solar and other forms of renewable energy to strengthen its green energy portfolio.



He invited Bangladesh in the ACD Sustainable Energy Ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi in January next year.



The three-day second ACD summit will end in Bangkok on Monday after discussing regional development as well as cooperation and ways to enhance and strengthen Asian unity.