Dhaka, Ankara work together for Erdogan's visit this year

Dhaka and Ankara have agreed that foreign ministries of the two countries would work together for a bilateral visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Bangladesh within this year. This was revealed at a bilateral meeting between Bangladesh foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sideline of Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey on Saturday, a foreign ministry press release said Sunday.

 

During the meeting, Dr Momen discussed the issue of Rohingya crisis in details while Turkish foreign minister assured to continue his government's support for the forcibly displaced Rohingyas.

 

At the invitation of Bangladesh Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, informed that he would soon visit Bangladesh at a mutually convenient time. Dr Momen paid a one-day official visit to Turkey on Saturday to join second Antalya Diplomacy Forum, attended by several other Foreign Ministers from Asian countries held in Antalya.

On the sideline, Dr Momen also held bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of Austria and Kyrgyz Republic. During the meeting with Austrian foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg, Dr Momen discussed the issue of joint celebration of the golden jubilee of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

 

In line with the last month's telephone meeting between Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Austria, the two foreign ministers discussed ways for further augmenting the bilateral relations. At his meeting with Kyrgyz foreign minister Ruslan Kazakbaev Aitbaevich, Dr Momen flagged the potential of increasing trade between the two countries.

 

The Bangladeshi foreign minister assured his Kyrgyz counterpart that Dhaka would be willing to work together with Kyrgyz Republic in the coming days to increase relations between the two countries in the areas of trade, connectivity and people to people contact.

 

Executive Director of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA) Mr Kairat Sarybay also called on Bangladesh Foreign Minister.

 

During the meeting, the CICA Executive Director explained the recent activities of the inter-government organisation while Dr. Momen emphasised on the importance of a peaceful and stable Asia for its prosperous. The view that the role of CICA, where Bangladesh is a member, should play an active role in this regard, the foreign minister observed.