Shahriar Alam attends Turkey President Erdogan’s inauguration

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam has attended the inauguration of Turkey’s new President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Erdogan won the country’s first direct ballot on Aug 10.

He took over pesidency on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by the political leaders and representatives of more than 90 countries.

The foreign ministry said after the ceremony the new President interacted with Alam twice in a “very welcoming mood”.

Erdoğan thanked Bangladesh government for sending congratulatory messages to him on assumption of his new position.

He also enquired about the current state of trade and economy in Bangladesh, the foreign ministry said.

The junior foreign minister told him that Bangladesh’s economy had been growing at a consistent rate of over 6 percent and the export volume crossed $32 billion mark.

He also said the bilateral trade volume between Bangladesh and Turkey had been increasing.

The state minister saw President of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce Salih Bezci and top executives of TURK EXIM Bank before attending the swearing-in ceremony.

With bank executives, he discussed the ways to utilise the $300 million annual Line of Credit that Anakara rolled out for Bangladesh’s private sector.

Alam said the credit line could be used for infrastructure projects in Bangladesh as well as for financing Turkish exports to Bangladesh.

He requested the Turk EXIM Bank to reduce the rate of interest on the credit line.

The junior minister also invited potential Turkish investors to take advantage of the favourable business environment in Bangladesh.

TURK EXIM Bank officials told him that they would send a high-level delegation to Bangladesh in October for further discussions and to find the means for early utilisation of the credit line.

During his meeting with the President of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, the foreign ministry said, both sides agreed to strengthen further trade cooperation between Bangladesh and Turkey.

The two-way trade now stands at $1.2 billion, heavily tilted towards Bangladesh.

He will leave for the Samoa to attend the third conference of small island nations. The four-day conference will begin on Sept 1.