Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sought Türkiye's cooperation for Rohingya repatriation and to strengthen economic ties between the two nations Tuesday.
The premier eyed a greater role from Türkiye to pressure Myanmar to take back its nationals – the heavily persecuted Rohingya Muslims. The prime minister also looked forward to cooperation from Türkiye in defense as well as socio-economic aspects.
Hasina made the remarks while outgoing Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Osman Turan visited her in Dhaka, the prime minister's speech writer M. Nazrul Islam told journalists after the meeting at the premier's office.
Dhaka has been providing temporary shelter on the southeast coast of Cox's Bazar to 1.2 million Rohingya refugees since a refugee influx in 2017 due to a Myanmar military crackdown.
"I call for more investment in Bangladesh on a larger scale," Islam quoted the premier.
Turan assured Bangladesh that Ankara will boost economic ties and will have a role in a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis. The Turkish diplomat also conveyed his country's interest in increasing cooperation with Bangladesh in the defense sector.
The Turkish government and entrepreneurs have shown a greater interest to invest in Bangladesh amid a catchy infrastructure development, especially the establishment of economic zones, Turan highlighted. "Turkish companies invested about $850 million in economic zones in Bangladesh in 2022," he added.
Trade and business between the two nations stand at around $1.5 billion.
Hasina also emphasized the need to hold the next Bangladesh-Türkiye Joint Economic Group meeting without delay to discuss cooperation in trade, business and other issues.
The last meeting of the joint group was in Istanbul in 2019.
Turan expressed his country's interest in setting up an advanced hospital in Bangladesh at a suitable location for the facility. For this, Hasina proposed land in Purbachal in Dhaka or next to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge – the mega project that Bangladesh recently completed – located 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Dhaka.
