Bangladesh has sought enhanced cooperation from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) in education, climate resilience and sustainable development as both countries look to deepen their longstanding partnership through new collaborative initiatives.
The issue came up during a meeting between State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed and a high-level TİKA delegation led by its Vice President Dr. Ali Ercan, who is currently visiting Bangladesh from June 7 to June 10.
During the meeting, the state minister underscored the importance of expanding development cooperation between Bangladesh and Türkiye, particularly in areas that directly affect vulnerable communities. She requested TİKA’s specialised support in implementing educational programmes for homeless and street children, aiming to create greater access to learning opportunities and social protection for some of the country's most disadvantaged groups.
The discussions also focused on strengthening Bangladesh’s capacity to address the growing impacts of climate change. Highlighting the country's exposure to floods, cyclones, river erosion and salinity intrusion, the state minister sought TİKA’s cooperation in developing sustainable climate resilience initiatives in vulnerable regions.
TİKA has been implementing a wide range of socioeconomic and humanitarian projects in Bangladesh since 2014. Its activities have covered areas such as education, healthcare, vocational training, disaster response, community development and capacity-building programmes.
Recognising Bangladesh’s vulnerability to climate-related challenges, Dr. Ali Ercan stressed the importance of greater international collaboration to address the impacts of global warming and environmental degradation. He recommended high-level participation by Bangladesh in the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP), which will be hosted by Türkiye, saying the platform would offer an important opportunity to strengthen international partnerships and advance climate action
Dr. Ercan reaffirmed TİKA’s commitment to supporting Bangladesh’s development priorities and expressed the agency’s willingness to further expand cooperation in key sectors, including education, disaster management, climate adaptation and institutional capacity building.
The two sides also reviewed the progress of ongoing development cooperation and discussed ways to enhance people-to-people contacts and institutional linkages between the two countries.
Officials noted that Bangladesh and Türkiye enjoy warm and friendly relations based on shared values, mutual respect and growing economic and development cooperation. In recent years, bilateral engagement has expanded significantly in trade, investment, education, defence cooperation and humanitarian assistance.
The meeting reflected the common desire of both countries to build stronger partnerships that address emerging development challenges while creating opportunities for sustainable growth and social progress.
Both sides expressed optimism that closer collaboration between Bangladesh and TİKA would further strengthen bilateral ties and pave the way for impactful, future-oriented projects benefiting people in both countries.
The visit of the TİKA vice president is expected to contribute to broadening development cooperation and exploring new avenues of partnership between Bangladesh and Türkiye in the years ahead.
