TİKA Provides a Shuttle Bus to the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission of Bangladesh

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provided a 30-seater shuttle bus to the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission of Bangladesh to be used in transportation to camps in Rakhine.

The ceremony held for the 30-seater shuttle bus provided by TİKA and delivered to the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission was attended by Enamur Rahman, Minister for Disaster Management and Relief of Bangladesh; Mustafa Osman Turan, Turkey’s Ambassador to Bangladesh; and İsmail Gündoğdu, TİKA’s Dhaka Coordinator. During the ceremony, Ambassador Turan presented a symbolic key to Bangladeshi officials.

Among the attendees of the delivery ceremony were Rezwan Hayat, Head of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission; and Major General Abdul Wahab, Chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, as well as bureaucrats of the Ministry for Disaster Management and Relief of Bangladesh. Naoki Matsumura, the JICA’s Country Coordinator, was also among the audience.

In his speech at the gathering, Md. Enamur Rahman, Minister for Disaster Management and Relief of Bangladesh, stated that Turkey has been standing in solidarity with Bangladesh for a long time, especially since the Rohingya crisis, and thanked Turkey for the shuttle bus they donated.

Rezwan Hayat, Head of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, also delivered a speech and underlined that they had a very positive cooperation with TİKA in Cox's Bazar and that after the fire that broke out on March 22, TİKA offered hot meals to ten thousand people a day by putting its kitchen at the disposal of the people of Bangladesh, thus contributing greatly to the solution of this problem. Hayat also noted that other organizations in Cox's Bazar focused only on the Rohingya crisis while TİKA implemented projects all over Bangladesh and closely monitored these activities.

In his speech, Ambassador Turan stated that Turkey has been home to the world's largest refugee population, hosting approximately 4 million refugees, and therefore has been the country that understood Bangladesh the best. Noting that TİKA had offices in 60 countries and implemented many projects in these countries, he added that TİKA has been carrying out great projects not only for the Rohingya people but all over Bangladesh.

The 30-seater bus donated to the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission of Bangladesh will be used as a shuttle bus by 26 camp directors in Ukhia, Cox's Bazar. Officials will travel approximately 53 km from the city center to the camps and cover more than 100 km a day by the bus provided by TİKA.