President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Nigeria. The Turkish President arrived late on Tuesday on a one-day official visit. He had a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu.
Erdogan is on a four-nation tour of Africa that had seen him visit Cot D’Ivoire on Monday and Ghana on Tuesday. President Erdogan will leave Nigeria tonight for a visit to Guinea on Thursday.
The Turkey-Nigeria trade volume hit $2.3 billion in 2014, according to the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture.
Nigeria’s presidential spokesman Garba Shehu told Anadolu Agency that Erdoğan and Buhari are scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss issues of mutual benefit.
The two have bilateral trade agreements, including one on economic, scientific, and technical cooperation inked in 1986 and an investment promotion and protection agreement signed in 2011.
Turkish President, Erdoğan, is on a four-nation tour of Africa that had seen him visit Ivory Coast on Monday and Ghana on Tuesday. He will leave Abuja late Wednesday for a visit to Guinea on Thursday.
Erdoğan’s visit is apparently to deepen socioeconomic relations between the two countries, who are powerful members of the D-8, a bloc of developing nations formed in 1997. Bilateral diplomatic relations began in 1960.
The Turkey-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1999. Their main areas of trade relations revolve around imports of clothing materials and automobile parts. Turkey, for its part, also imports raw materials from Nigeria such as rubber and sesame seeds.
Data emanating from Turkey’s Economy Ministry ascribed Nigeria as its fifth-largest trade partner in Africa and second in the sub-Saharan African region.
Turkish investments in Nigeria are visible in the areas of construction, quarrying, textiles, tourism, education, healthcare, and hospitality. Erdoğan is accompanied by his spouse Emine Erdoğan, over 150 Turkish businessmen, and many other Turkish officials.
