Visiting Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday expressed his country’s intention to further improve the existing strong trade and economic relations with Bangladesh, and assured of continuing its support to Rohingyas living in Bangladesh.

‘We’ve discussed what we can do to improve our economic and trade relations,’ he said terming Bangladesh a dynamic nation with nearly 7 per cent growth over the past few years, reports the UNB.

After a bilateral meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, the Turkish Prime Minister highly appreciated Hasina’s diplomacy over Rohingya issue and Bangladesh’s support to the displaced people.

He said the bilateral document signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar on November 23 will make Rohingyas’ return to their home possible soon.

The Turkish Prime Minister urged the international community to enhance their support for Rohingyas in Bangladesh and finding a political solution to the crisis looking at it as a humanitarian crisis instead of seeing it as an issue of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and Myanmar on Tuesday formed a joint working group (JWG) to start the next step of work for the repatriation of Rohingyas living in Bangladesh and signed the terms of reference (TOR).

The agreed TOR mandates the JWG to undertake all the necessary measures to start the safe and voluntary return, resettlement and reintegration process of the displaced Myanmar residents as envisaged in the ‘Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State’.

An estimated 655,000 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State since August 25, raising the total Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar to 867,000, said the UN migration agency.

Prime Minister Hasina said she had a very fruitful discussion with the Turkish Prime Minister on bilateral and international issues of common interests. 

‘We’ve reiterated our commitment to work closely and support each other on bilateral and international issues of mutual concern, including the issue of forcibly displaced Rohingya people from Myanmar,’ she said.

They talked about consolidating cooperation in key areas, such as, trade and investment, defence, education, tourism and connectivity.

Earlier, Bangladesh and Turkey signed two bilateral documents to enhance cooperation in the areas of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and maintain the standards of products.

The documents are Memorandum of Understanding between Small and Medium Enterprise Foundation, Bangladesh and Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization, and another MoU between Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) and Turkish Standards Institution (TSI).

The instruments cover areas such as Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), industrial production, standardisation, capacity building, knowledge sharing, and skill development.

The signing ceremony was held after the official talks between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim at the Prime Minister’s Office.

These instruments cover areas such as SME, industrial production, standardisation, capacity building, knowledge sharing, and skill development.   

The two countries agreed to continue to work together for socioeconomic development and mutual interests of the two nations.  ‘We hope to have Turkey by our side in the course of our journey towards development,’ Hasina said.   

She thanked the Turkish Prime Minister for his visit, especially his plan to visit Rohingya camps on Wednesday.   

Supporting Bangladesh’s 2021 target, the Turkish Prime Minister said they discussed how they can contribute to Bangladesh in fulfilling the 2021 goals.

He expressed gratitude to his Bangladesh counterpart and people for their support to Turkish government and democracy.