Outgoing Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Osman Turan has credited “very strong leadership” on both sides and deep political trust for the significant progress in Dhaka-Ankara relations in recent times – with growing economic and defence cooperation hand in hand. “I think there are a couple of factors. One is the fact that both countries – Turkey and Bangladesh – are growing economies; and they have high growth rates and very strong leadership on both sides,” Turan told UNB in an exclusive interview. The Turkish envoy, who is set to complete his tenure later this month, said they have found the opportunity to increase their trade and investments. “I think Bangladesh and Turkey have very complementary economies; we can diversify our trade and increase the volume up to $2 billion in the years to come. Currently, it’s around $1.2 to $1.3 billion,” Ambassador Turan said. The two countries were aiming for $1.5 billion trade annually but it slowed down because of the current global economic crisis. “But I am confident that we can increase our trade to $2 billion easily in the next one or two years,” he said. Read more: PM seeks cooperation from Turkey in defence sector GROWING DEFENCE COOPERATION Turan said there is a “political aspect” which he sees as a “political factor” behind the stronger bilateral ties between the two countries. Turkey is now considered as one of the most reliable partners of Bangladesh, he said. “We can safely say this.” The ambassador explained that the two countries maintain cooperation in defence. “We were able to sign some contracts recently, in the past one year in particular. This shows and proves that the relations between our countries at the political level are based on mutual trust,” he said. Ambassador Turan referred to his recent farewell meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and said she confirmed that the “defence cooperation will continue” between the two countries. “We are hoping that after the economic troubles everywhere around the world are over, we will enhance our defence cooperation. So, that’s a very good indication,” he said. Politically speaking, the Turkish envoy said, they are hoping that after the elections in both countries, respective leaders will have high-level visits. Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in mid-2023 while Bangladesh will hold the next national election in January 2024. BANGLADESH-TÜRKIYE BUSINESS FORUM At the end of his three years tenure in Bangladesh, Ambassador Turan said he is confident that the upward trend in relationship will continue and their trade and investments will be diversified. ICT and pharmaceutical industries appear as promising fields of cooperation as well as agro-industry and light engineering, he said. Bangladesh can also benefit from growing interest of the Turkish contracting companies to participate in infrastructure and transport projects. Read more: Energy supply to Bangladesh: Turkey will be “more than happy” to be a transit country, says ambassador As a result of growing interactions between businesses and entrepreneurs, the Turkish Embassy in Dhaka took the initiative to encourage and support the establishment of ‘Bangladesh-Türkiye Business Forum’ (BTBF). Led by Dr. Rubana Huq, Managing Director of Mohammadi Group, and Salahuddin Kasem Khan, of A.K. Khan and Company Ltd, BTBF brings together 13 Bangladeshi conglomerates and 6 Turkish companies operating in Bangladesh. BTBF will be launched officially as a trust on January 17, following inauguration of its office in Dhaka’s Gulshan. “Now, we have a leadership of the business forum and there will be a legal status as it will be formed as a trust,” said the Turkish ambassador. With this business forum, he said, there are three objectives. One of the objectives is to promote trade and investments in both countries. The second is to facilitate business partnerships and the third is to rebrand Bangladesh in Turkey and rebrand Turkey in Bangladesh through exchanges, said Ambassador Turan. He also highlighted the importance of cultural exchanges because the two countries have a strong shared cultural history and values. “The Business Forum would bring to light historical facts about our countries.” Read more: Election Bangladesh’s own issue, not foreigners’ concern: Turkish Ambassador PROMOTING BANGLADESH IN TURKEY The Ambassador said they have tried to promote Bangladesh in Turkey because their business community does not know enough about the country and the opportunities it offers. “I think here we have done a good job together with the Government of Bangladesh.” “I think the level of awareness in Turkey about the opportunities and potential in Bangladesh is increasing day by day,” he said, adding that another factor – people to people contacts – also contributed to growing relations. The ambassador said he suggested to the Bangladesh PM that the two countries can establish cultural centres reciprocally. “We will look into that possibility. I think she was positive because she really likes our culture. I gave her a culinary book on Turkish cuisine because I know she likes to cook. She really appreciated the gift.” The ambassador said the two countries can also increase cooperation between universities. “Education is a very important area; we can do more in this field.” Responding to a question on Rohingya repatriation, Ambassador Turan said Turkey has been supporting Bangladesh but the problem is that the key goal for safe repatriation is yet to be realized. “Of course, repatriation is the real solution to this issue. But it requires the Myanmar government to prepare the favourable conditions for repatriation. They need to be willing to receive their own people. And it must be a safe, voluntary and dignified return,” he said. Ambassador Turan said he will always remember the scenic beauty of Bangladesh. “I had an opportunity to fly over Bangladesh by helicopter. And when you fly by helicopter, you can see more because it’s close to the ground – how beautiful it is.” He said he is hoping that there will be more tourism in Bangladesh to highlight the natural beauty of the landscape. Read more: "We will be stronger in every field", says Turkish Ambassador Turan seeking broader partnership TAKING A PATHAO RIDE TO AVOID DHAKA TRAFFIC JAM “Yes, I wanted to try Pathao, because one of the important memories I have here is that I interacted a lot with young entrepreneurs and start-ups. Pathao is one of them,” said the Ambassador, adding, “And I wanted to see how it works. It worked really well and helped me arrive on time at my farewell dinner hosted by the Palestinian ambassador!”

Bangladesh and Argentina want to strengthen the relations on all fronts including a robust trade relation with opening of an Embassy of Argentina in Dhaka soon.  Bangladesh and Argentina on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) at State guesthouse Padma. The MoU was signed in presence of Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, by Sabbir Ahmed Chowdhury, Secretary (West), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh and Claudio Javier Rozencwaig, Undersecretary of Foreign Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina. "It is a good and important day for our relations," Caludio told reporters after the signing ceremony.  He said they are "actively considering" possibilities of opening an Embassy here. The process I think will finish by next year. We are considering it very actively." The Undersecretary said there are lots of possibilities and it is important to have more exchange and cooperation in commercial area.  He said Bangladesh economy has grown significantly over the past decade and Argentina is glad to see Bangladesh’s growing economy.  Foreign Secretary Masud Momen said Bangladesh-Argentina relations are very deep and the two countries are celebrating 50 years of relations. "We had a very good meeting." He said they have some plans to strengthen the relationship and to take it forward with more exchanges. PTA with Bangladesh  Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives Hugo Gobbi has suggested signing of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Bangladesh and MERCOSUR, the Southern Common Market comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.   The ambassador said the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations might take a long time whereas PTA takes a much shorter period, according to FBCCI. Read: Argentina plans to open Dhaka embassy

Bangladesh wants to enhance economic relations with the Asean countries with increased trade and has sought stronger efforts from its envoys in Asean countries.  The Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) is a 10-member international body that represents more than 500 million people living in the region. Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on Monday exchanged views with the Bangladesh envoys and urged them to step up their efforts for protecting the national interests of Bangladesh with particular emphasis on enhancing trade and economic relationship with the Asean countries.  Also read: ASEAN envoys meet Myanmar junta leader to press for dialogue He called upon the envoys to make innovative and out-of-the-box efforts to maintain the momentum of the economic growth of Bangladesh in context of the raging pandemic and other regional and global challenges.  The virtual meeting was held on the locally developed Bangladeshi virtual video conferencing platform ‘Boithok’ with Bangladesh Ambassadors/High Commissioners in Asean countries on contemporary issues. Eight Ambassadors/High Commissioners along with other senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended the virtual meeting chaired by the Foreign Secretary.  Also read: Bangladesh keen for establishing road, rail links with China, ASEAN countries Set up in 1967 in Bangkok by Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, Asean has since been joined by Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya has said Bangladesh and India need a “much more robust framework” for their future economic relationship and a change in the framework is important to make that happen. The macroeconomist and public policy analyst said the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), now on the table, needs to be coherent, dynamic and inclusive to address the challenges ahead and help boost trade and investment between the two countries. “CEPA has to be coherent, dynamic and inclusive. CEPA is the name of the game,” said Debapriya highlighting Bangladesh-India relations on three fronts -- leftover, built-in and emerging issues. Also read: New conversation on int'l dev cooperation needed: Debapriya The former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the World Trade Organization (WTO) made the remarks while delivering his speech at a symposium titled ‘Bangladesh-India Relations: Prognosis for the Future’ held recently. Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami delivered the keynote speech at the symposium. Renowned scholar-diplomat and adviser on foreign affairs to the last caretaker government Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury chaired the event hosted by the Cosmos Foundation, philanthropic arm of the Cosmos Group. Chairman of the Cosmos Foundation Enayetullah Khan delivered the opening remarks at the event. An array of experts from Bangladesh and India -- former Ambassador Tariq A. Karim, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore Prof C. Raja Mohan, Dhaka University Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) President Maj Gen (retd) A. N. M. Muniruzzaman, CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun, Brig. Gen. (retd) Shahedul Anam Khan and former Indian Foreign Secretary Krishnan Srinivasan -- were brought together for the online symposium to assess the state of relations between the two countries and identify the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the effort to take it forward. The noted economist said the leftover issues are very well known to all -- water, border security issues and others which will have to deal with successfully.   He said the built-in issues are essentially the trade, investment, connectivity and all other issues. “We can’t escape from these issues.” Debapriya said the third set of issues is the emerging issues that include IT, financial inclusions and many other issues.   The renowned economist said they need a framework within which all these three types of issues can be addressed. “We need a framework which will also address the current emphasis of our cooperation on the economic front.” Also read: Dhaka, Delhi want enhanced connectivity for prosperity He said Bangladesh and India have achieved quite a lot in the recent past, especially over the last 10 years, with a move from trade focus to more on connectivity one. “What’s important to make the next step?” he said, highlighting the importance of investment focus -- the production value chain issue. Debapriya said Bangladesh cannot solve its leftover issues without improving the space for negotiation. Highlighting Bangladesh’s economic growth, Debapriya said Bangladesh deserves a “less than full reciprocity” in the relationship as it goes. He said dealing with the external issue, one of the understated dimensions of Indo-Bangla relationship, is how Bangladesh is cooperating with India or how India is cooperating with Bangladesh at the global stage. Debapriya said India has to be a part of the smooth transition of LDC graduation of Bangladesh, and said India has provided duty- and quota-free market access which helped Bangladesh’s exports to India cross US$ 1.2 billion-dollar mark. “I think India has to continue with the duty- and quota-free market access in line with other markets providers like the European, Canada and Australia,” the economist said. He added that this is a declaration that will continue to support Bangladesh with duty- and quota-free market access for the export of garments at least in three years, not nine years, in line with WTO proposals. It will be a great service and it will continue greatly to strengthen the relationship. CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun said the relationship between Bangladesh and India is covering a wide range of aspects, including trade, investment, power and energy; communication, health, education and culture. She said the collaboration between the two countries perceives an important factor, not only for the two countries but also for enhancing South Asian cooperation. Fahmida said they need to understand the challenges and identify the opportunities through concrete actions by both the countries. The economist laid emphasis on the issue of harnessing advantage of closer bilateral cooperation and leveraging this cooperation to ensure strengthening regional and global integration of the economy. The CPD economist said Bangladesh needs reimaging its own policies, strategies and options during this journey. As a large neighbour, she said, India can feature prominently through extending support and cooperation in a number of areas and noted that in the last decade, there were a number of initiatives towards depending bilateral cooperation in different areas, including trade and goods, services, energy, and multimodal transport connectivity, cross-border trade, capacity building, deepening people-to-people connectivity, and also security measures. “For Bangladesh, there’re many trade-related challenges. One of the important challenges is to make greater use of Indian offer of duty- and quota-free market access. It’s still underutilised,” Fahmida said, adding that there is a huge trade gap, too. Statistics showed that trade and economic cooperation between India and Bangladesh is much lower than its full potential, she added. According to the World Bank Study, Bangladesh and India trade economic potential is almost $16 billion, but the actual trade is around $10 billion. Fahmida said the cost of trading is very high due to lack of trade facilitation and logistic shortcoming. She said the future relationship between Bangladesh and India will depend on how the challenges are addressed by both the countries.

The United States is looking for broader economic engagement with Bangladesh exploring additional ways to deepen the partnership as Bangladesh has made a "big push" for attracting foreign direct investment from major countries, officials said.