Nigeria and Turkey on Wednesday signed eight major agreements and Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) on a number of the key sectors, including Energy, Defense Industry, Mining and Hydrocarbons, which implementation are expected to commence immediately.
This was disclosed by President Muhammadu Buhari at a joint press conference on the occasion of the official visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Nigeria.
‘‘As a positive outcome, eight major Agreements/MoUs on a number of the key sectors including Energy, Defense Industry, Mining and HydroCarbons among others were signed today. We have agreed that implementation is to commence immediately,” a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, quoted the president as saying.
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.
The president further stated that 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.
Earlier, President Buhari heaped praises on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for opening his country’s borders to accommodate millions of refugees in dire need of humanitarian support.
Buhari said his Turkish counterpart has set an example for 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.
He thanked the Turkish President and the First Lady for commissioning the Turkish Cultural Centre in Abuja as well as opening the newly renovated Government Secondary School in Wuse, Abuja, undertaken by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIIKA).
In his reaction to President Buhari’s remarks, President Erdogan stressed that Turkey was determined to improve relations with Nigeria to ‘‘higher levels on all fields.”
He said 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.
‘‘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,’’ the President, who spoke through an interpreter said.
