Turkish President Abdullah Gül said direct flights between Dhaka and Istanbul will begin in December, hoping that the connectivity would definitely enhance trade and investment between Bangladesh and his country.
Gül told this to the newly appointed Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey Md Zulfiqur Rahman on Monday. Rahman met the Turkish president to present his credentials.
As a follow-up of Gül’s visit to Bangladesh, Turkish Airlines will launch the IstanbulKarachiDhaka flight.
The ambassador told Gül of the forthcoming visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan to Dhaka, according to a press release received from Bangladesh embassy in Ankara.
An agreement on cooperation in health sector between the two countries would be signed during Erdoðan’s visit to Dhaka on November 13-14, said the ambassador.
The two countries would also sign an agreement on exchange of land for their embassies in Ankara and Dhaka during the visit, he added.
President Gül was happy at the expansion of the relations between the two countries, and expressed hope that high level visits between Bangladesh and Turkey would bring qualitative change to the relations to benefit the people of both countries.
The ambassador also discussed other issues including increasing bilateral trade and more Turkish investment in Bangladesh.
He urged the president to encourage Turkish businesses to invest in Bangladesh taking advantage of Bangladesh’s investor-friendly Foreign Direct Investment regime.
The ambassador told Gül that all sectors of investment were open to Turkish investment, but would appreciate Turkish investment in agro-food processing industry of Bangladesh, as desired by the prime minister of Bangladesh as a priority sector for ensuring food security of the people of Bangladesh.
The president assured the Bangladesh ambassador that he would always encourage the Turkish investors, including in agro-food sector, to invest in Bangladesh, a brotherly country with great potentials.
Ambassador Zulfiqur Rahman also discussed the ways to increase bilateral trade, particularly increasing Bangladesh’s export to Turkey.
The president promised his support to raise the bilateral trade volume to one billion US dollar as declared during his Dhaka visit.
Earlier, the ambassador laid floral wreaths yesterday at the mausoleum of the Atatürk Kemal Pasha, the Father of Turkish Nation.
