SESRIC, in cooperation with partners, will organise the Start-up Meeting of the Reverse Linkage Project between Bangladesh and Turkey on “Enhancing Capacity in Cotton Varieties Development" on 04-08 November 2019 at Nazilli Cotton Research Institute of Turkey in Aydın, Republic of Turkey.

The start-up meeting will bring together the project partners, namely SESRIC, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), Turkish Airlines, the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB), Cotton Development Board (CDB) under the Ministry of Agriculture of Bangladesh and Nazilli Cotton Research Institute (CRI) of Turkey. Partners will discuss the details of the implementation arrangement of the Reverse Linkage Project, disbursement procedures of the donor institutions, as well as the timetable of the project activities.

Within the framework of the meeting, a study visit also will take place at the Nazilli Cotton Research Institute (CRI) of Turkey to familiarise with the work, strategies, methodologies and techniques used at the Institute.

The main objective of the Reverse Linkage Project between Bangladesh and Turkey is to contribute to the efforts of the Government of Bangladesh to increase local cotton production particularly in less productive agricultural land. This aims to be achieved through enhancing the research capacity of the Cotton Development Board (CDB) of Bangladesh regarding the cotton varieties development and improving its production capacities.