Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey Mosud Mannan in an interview with The News Times said that the highest political leaderships of Bangladesh and Turkey have been putting emphasis on further strengthening trade and economic relations between the two countries to increase the total volume of trade to US 2 billion dollars in the near future.
The recent graduation of Bangladesh to the level of developing country with the highest per capita income in South Asia even during the pandemic has indeed put Bangladesh at high esteem in the minds of the people of Turkey. A number of business houses of Turkey as well as individual investors and traders are showing keen interest to develop business and economic activities with Bangladesh, said Mosud Mannan, a career diplomat.
Details of the interview are as follows:
01. Can you brief us about Turkish culture and heritage?
Answer: Turkey is a big and beautiful country connecting the two continents of Asia and Europe. It has a very rich culture with ancient heritage developed over several thousand years. As a new Ambassador, it is difficult for me to share my opinion without visiting different parts of this historic country at least once. From my short experience I have found the people very friendly and hospitable. Their cuisine is delicious and the weather is very pleasant with four seasons. Majority of the population follow Islam with an open mind. They have their distinct architecture which easily attracts the tourists from abroad during normal atmosphere (before corona virus pandemic). Like the people of Bangladesh the Turkish people are also fond of music and many forms of performing & fine arts.
02. Bangladesh-Turkey bilateral trade is nearly 1.00 billion US dollars. What is our target to reach bilateral trade within next five years?
Answer: The bilateral cooperation between the two brotherly countries is closely linked to historic, economic and political issues existing between the two countries. Both the countries are having Muslim majority population with secular outlook, religious understanding and cultural commonalities.
At present both the countries are doing good economically and the highest political leaderships of Bangladesh and Turkey have been putting emphasis on further strengthening trade and economic relations between the two countries to increase the total volume of trade to US 2 billion dollars, in the near future. For that we should explore new possibilities in case of trade and economic cooperation side by side with our defense cooperation.
Both the countries should also determine new sectors in which we can collaborate, especially in assembling different products either in Bangladesh or in Turkey targeting the markets of third countries or region where they do not produce those things but we produce. If we can combine our skill with our resources, and our labour, then easily we can both achieve a win-win situation and profit. InshAllah, we will reach this target in the next few years.
In the field of economic cooperation we may take into consideration the advantages that Turkey has in the sector of medical science. Turkey is quite good in providing different kind of medical services to its citizens. So, through public private partnership, Bangladesh & Turkey can build hospitals and increase the number of modern medical service provider in Bangladesh.
We can also explore the possibility of increasing the number of Turkish business people importing medicines of generic variety produced in Bangladesh. In new Normal situation both the countries can also do more publicity of tourism and visit each other’s country, thereby helping this sector to flourish again.
Recently, in February 2021, Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey DEIK signed an MoU with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FBCCI to promote the trade and investment between two countries. Both countries are members of OIC and D-8 and they could also utilize these multilateral channels to increase cooperation.
03. Foreign direct investment (FDI) flow Bangladesh suffered last year as corona pandemic hit the world. The corona situation has also deteriorated again in the world. Do you see more Turkish investment in Bangladesh, particularly in the service sectors?
Answer: Developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition have come increasingly to see FDI as a source of economic development and modernization, income growth and employment. Countries have liberalized their FDI regimes and pursued other policies to attract investment. They have addressed the issue of how best to pursue domestic policies to maximize the benefits of foreign presence in the domestic economy. Both Turkey and Bangladesh have their own advantages to offer to the foreign investors. Hon’ble President Erdoğan will announce new measures to encourage and bring foreign investors to Turkey. And, Bangladesh being a country which has already graduated from LDC also is an attractive destination for foreign direct investment.
Several top Turkish companies, including home appliance maker Arcelik, private gas company Aygaz, and fashion retailer LC Waikiki have multi-million-dollar investment in Bangladesh. Leading Turkish home appliance maker, Arçelik, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Singer Bangladesh for $75 million. Turkish liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) company Aygaz signed a partnership agreement with United Enterprises, one of the largest socioeconomic infrastructure-based companies in Bangladesh to conduct LPG supply, storage and distribution.
The Bangladesh pharmaceutical company, Incepta pharmaceuticals Limited, is also planning to invest with its Turkish partner in Turkey. Walton group of Bangladesh has started to export compressors to Turkey.
04. Bangladesh has become a member of low mid-come country, according to the World Bank report. How do Turkish citizen see the achievement of Bangladesh’s economic success?
Answer: The recent graduation of Bangladesh to the level of developing country with highest per capita income in South Asia even during the pandemic has indeed put Bangladesh at high esteem in the minds of the people of Turkey. A number of business houses of Turkey as well as individual investors & traders are showing keen interest to develop business and economic activities with Bangladesh.
05. What is the number Bangladeshis living in Turkey? How does Turkish government evaluate their contributions to their country?
Answer: Bangladeshis living in Turkey are not big in number like in Saudi Arabia or UK. There are around six hundred students from Bangladesh studying in Turkey at present.
Turkish government very much appreciates the various contributions of the Bangladesh community in Turkey specially of those who are involved in research and business in addition to the services of the few Academicians, Physicians and Engineers of Bangladesh origin working in Turkey.
06. Can Turkey recruit more skilled Bangladeshi manpower, especially doctors, engineers and nurses?
Answer: Since Turkey has a sizeable youth population with quality education in comparison to its neighbour’s, there is limited possibility of recruitment of skilled Bangladesh professionals or man power, specially in the current pandemic situation.
07. Turkey has a number of reputed and world standard universities. Can Turkish government give more scholarships to Bangladeshis in higher education?
Answer: Embassy of Bangladesh in Ankara is currently trying to increase the number of scholarships in different subjects by negotiating with relevant authorities and universities. InshAllah, if the economic situation permits and current pandemic decreases substantially, in future more scholarships will be available.
08. How Turkey is containing the corona pandemic situation?
Answer: As reported by the Turkish Ministry of Health Affairs, Covid 19 Information for Turkey as of 12 June 2021:
Total number of the tests: 56.789.542,
Total Number of the Patients: 5.325.435, Total number of Deaths: 48.668,
Pneumonia rate in Patients: 2.7 %,
The number of the recovered Patients: 5.198.057,
Number of the cases on 12 June: 6.076, Number of the deaths on 12 June: 75,
Vaccination: The number of vaccines applied as of 12 June: 33.625.409, Number of the people who received 1st dose: 19.935.859, Number of the people who received 2nd dose: 13.689.550
Turkey ranks 10th globally with more than 33M vaccines administered across country. Turkey ranks 5th with 5.325.435 cases after USA, India, Brazil and France as of 12 June 2021.
In Turkey the epidemic situation is improving day by day. It has loosened its lockdown measures to some extent as of 1 June 2021.
09. Terrorism is a global phenomenon. Terrorist attacks have occurred in Turkey, France, Germany, Britain and the USA. How Dhaka and Ankara can work together in combating terrorism?
Answer: Combating terrorism is a challenging task for any country individually or jointly with another same minded friendly country. As two active and peace loving members of the UN, Turkey and Bangladesh will collaborate on this issue as per call of the day if required.
