On February 12, Turkish President Abdullah Gul stated that he hopes his country's trade volume with Bangladesh will increase to $1 billion from the current $600 million, during his visit to the South Asian country with a large business delegation.
"The annual bilateral trade could be raised to $1 billion or even more from the existing $600 million," President Gul said at a joint press conference held with his Bangladeshi counterpart Zillur Rahman. Gul especially expressed his desire to provide development support to Bangladesh in areas such as electricity generation, transport, information communication technology, roads and other infrastructures.
Turkish President Gul was visiting with an entourage of some 180 people, mostly businessmen and entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, Rahman, speaking later at a banquet, asked the Turkish entrepreneurs to invest in various sectors in Bangladesh including textiles, shipbuilding, energy and tourism. As the visiting Turkish President offered more investment from his country for these sectors, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called for investment from Turkey in developing railways and waterways in Bangladesh.
The Turkish president and the Bangladesh prime minister also discussed the much-anticipated 5.6 km-long Padma Bridge between Mawa and Janjira, and the modernization of the Chittagong and Mongla seaports.
The two sides expressed satisfaction over the volume of bilateral trade that took place between the two countries during the global economic meltdown.