Bangladesh on Wednesday reaffirmed its commitment to promoting closer cooperation with Türkiye in defence, security, technology, research, and institutional capacity building through continued dialogue and knowledge exchange.

The Embassy of Bangladesh in Ankara hosted a high-level "strategic consultative" session titled "Strengthening Bangladesh-Türkiye Defence Cooperation."

The session was chaired by M Amanul Haq, Ambassador of Bangladesh to Türkiye, and anchored by Brigadier General Mohammed Iftequr Rahman, Defence Attache.

The discussion featured two experts: Professor Hasan Unal of Baskent University and Dr Ahmed Dolan, CEO of Sigma International and Founder of the Diplomatic Club Ankara. 

The interactive session explored strategic pathways for enhancing Bangladesh-Türkiye defence cooperation, including capacity building for security and defence, strengthening bilateral collaboration, fostering public-private partnerships, promoting private sector engagement in defence industries, and harnessing the talents of young engineers, researchers, and innovators.

The experts shared valuable insights into Türkiye’s remarkable journey in developing a strong and self-reliant defence industry, highlighting the importance of long-term strategic planning, investment in human capital, technology development, international collaboration, reverse engineering, and indigenous innovation.

The programme also included a discussion on the research questionnaire prepared by participants from the National Defence Course, National Defence College (NDC), Bangladesh, who are conducting research on Bangladesh-Türkiye defence cooperation strategies. 

The discussion is expected to play a pivotal role in strengthening their research by providing valuable expert insights and practical recommendations. 

This discussion generated an engaging exchange of ideas with the experts and it would play pivotal role in their research findings. 

The recommendations offered during the session are expected to contribute to the formulation of more effective strategies for enhancing Bangladesh-Türkiye defence cooperation and strengthening Bangladesh's overall defence and security capacity.