Nigeria,Turkey Sign Bilateral Agreements On Energy,Mining,Hydrocarbons,Others

Nigeria and Turkey have signed  eight major agreements/MoUs which includes Energy, Defense Industry, Mining and HydroCarbons among others.

Both countries agreed that implementation should commence instantly.

The agreements were signed during the two-day visit of the  Turkish President,Recep Tayyip Erdogan to President Muhammadu Buhari.

At a joint press conference, President Buhari said, “In the course of our discussions, we also reviewed the travel ban list based on the revised COVID-19 protocols and removed Turkey from Nigeria’s Travel Ban List.  Turkey has indeed achieved remarkable success in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.’’

Buhari also commended the Turkish President  for opening his country’s borders to accommodate millions of refugees in dire need of humanitarian support.

According to him, Turkish counterpart has set an example to the rest of the world on how to treat refugees.

‘‘I commend Your Excellency for your leadership and generosity in receiving and accommodating 4 million refugees fleeing  from conflict areas  particularly in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. You have indeed set an example to the rest of the world,’’ the Nigerian leader said.

President Buhari described the two-day visit of President Erdogan and the First Lady, Emine Erdogan, as a reflection of the ‘‘robust, warm and cordial bilateral relation’’ between Nigeria and Turkey.

He noted that it was the second time he has had  ‘‘the pleasure of receiving my brother in Abuja.’’

He spoke on the benefits of the visit,saying:‘‘During the visit, we held very useful discussions on a number of bilateral issues, aimed at strengthening this cordial relationship between Nigeria and Turkey.

President Buhari said President Erdogan’s meeting with a Joint Session of the Nigeria and Turkish Chambers of Commerce and Industry, before departing Nigeria, would be another opportunity to engage and exchange views on more productive ways of pushing ahead the socio-economic ties between the two countries.

Speaking, President Erdogan stressed that Turkey was determined to improve relations with Nigeria,adding that the trade volume between both countries reached 2 billion dollars in 2020, making Nigeria the outstanding and the biggest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa.

He added :‘‘However, we still believe that this level of trade we have achieved is far from being adequate. We hope and pray that we will be expanding our trade volume up to 5 billion dollars immediately.We hope that the relations between the two nations will be further developed on the basis of a win-win scenario and mutual respect”.

He announced that his country has increased its diplomatic presence in Africa to 43 missions, adding that the third round of the Turkish-African business forum will be held in Istanbul this October while the third Turkish-African partnership summit will follow in December.

President Erdogan expressed delight that many Nigerian students are currently studying in Turkey and benefiting from scholarships.