Turkey is interested to set up Turkish Development Agency (TIKA) office in Bangladesh to continue its operations for boosting bilateral cooperation as well as trade and commerce.
Like other development partners, including JICA, JETRO, and KOICA, Turkey wants to set up such kind of office to boost bilateral technical cooperation and trade.
Vice President of Turkey Fuat Oktay expressed such interest when Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal met him in Ankara, Turkey on Thursday last. Fuat opined that setting up of such kind of office in Dhaka would automatically enhance manifold the bilateral trade.
In response, the Finance Minister assured the Turkish vice president that the government of Bangladesh would consider the matter. Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey M Allama Siddiqui and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs M Daud Ali, were present, among others.
Kamal also sought cooperation from Turkey in the fields of ICT.
Turning to the bilateral trade relations, Fuat said Bangladesh could supply more the agro-processed foods, jute and jute-made goods, processed fruits including mangoes, litchis, jackfruits and pineapple to Turkish market and other markets while Turkey would extend cooperation in this regard.
He also suggested that Bangladesh could supply leather goods as well as meat to Turkish market where Turkey could extend support in case of getting the necessary Halal certification.
Referring to the visit of the then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Dhaka in 2010 where he pledged to raise the bilateral trade volume to US$ 3.0 billion from $ 400 million, the Turkish Vice President said that the diplomatic ties between the two countries is now good and Bangladesh could export those items to Turkey which have a very good demand in Turkey.
Turkey also expressed their interest to provide long-term support to Bangladesh in petroleum products and LNG export in the public sector.
