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DHAKA: The Bangladeshi government will reduce the cost of Hajj packages in 2026, authorities said on Monday, following three consecutive years of failing to fill its allocated pilgrimage quota.

Bangladesh, one of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, has been granted by ����ֱ�� a quota of over 127,000 pilgrims, but since 2023 has been struggling to meet it.

In 2024, only 85,000 Bangladeshi pilgrims were able to embark on the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam, because of high inflation and flight fares to the Middle East.

In 2025, the number increased by only 2,000, despite major price reductions to Hajj packages, up to 20 percent in some cases.

With last year’s reduction in place, for 2026 the government is cutting the price by another $100, hopeful there will not be a repeat of the previous situation.

“We hope that the reduced Hajj package rate will be affordable, and it will help increase the number of Hajj pilgrims from Bangladesh, compared with recent years,” Abdul Awal Hawlader, additional secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.

“Last year, far fewer pilgrims registered due to high airfare, which we reduced by around $100 this year.”

The minimum government rate for Hajj in 2026 will be nearly $3,890.

Accommodation for this package has been arranged in the Aziziya area — a few kilometers from the Great Mosque of Makkah and the Holy Kaaba. Two other more expensive packages will allow Bangladeshi pilgrims to stay closer to the most sacred site in Islam.

The 2026 Hajj is expected to begin in late May. The deadline for Bangladeshi pilgrims to register is Oct. 12.

“Already more than 50,000 pilgrims have completed their preliminary Hajj registration, as the process began at the end of July,” Hawlader said. “We are hopeful to fill the Hajj quota this year.”

Special flights from Bangladesh are set to start in mid-April, as pilgrims from populous countries often prefer to arrive early.

This is not only to prepare mentally and spiritually for the pilgrimage, but also because accommodation and transportation are managed over weeks, especially for countries with large quotas.

With the number of registrations already higher than it was at the same time last year, Hawlader expects pilgrims who could not travel in 2025 to now use the upcoming opportunity.

“Better management will also attract more pilgrims for next year’s Hajj,” he said. “For next year, we have received a quota of 127,198 pilgrims, and we are hopeful that we will be able to fulfill it.”

WARSAW: Ukraine has offered to build a joint aerial defense shield with its allies to protect against threats from Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, after a series of airspace incursions that caused alarm on NATO’s eastern flank.
NATO leaders have said that Russia has been testing the alliance’s readiness and resolve with airspace incursions in Poland and the Baltic states, and Kyiv says its experience in dealing with aerial threats would be valuable.
“Ukraine proposes to Poland and all our partners to build a joint, fully reliable shield against Russian aerial threats,” he said in an address to the Warsaw Security Forum delivered via video link.
“This is possible. Ukraine can counter all kinds of Russian drones and missiles and if we act together in the region we will have enough weapons and production capacity.”
Ukraine has already said that its troops and engineers will train their Polish counterparts on countering drones.
The topic of defense cooperation with Kyiv was high on the agenda as leaders gathered in Warsaw for the annual security forum.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told the conference that “Europe’s and Ukraine’s defense industry must work together more closely and effectively.”
“The European Union must back this by providing a much more flexible regulatory framework for the defense industry in Europe.”
Following the Russian incursions into NATO airspace, countries on the alliance’s eastern flank have agreed on the need for a “drone wall” with advanced detection, tracking and interception capabilities.
However, Pistorius warned that establishing this would not be a quick process.
“We’re not talking about a concept that will be realized within the next three or four years,” he said. “We need to prioritize, and recognize that we require more capabilities and capacities than previously described.”