Buhari departs for Turkey-Africa partnership summit in Istanbul Thursday

President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja for Istanbul, Turkey to attend the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit on Thursday.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement on Thursday.

According to Shehu, the summit, titled, ‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity,’ is hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey.

The SSA added that the summit will review the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014.

Shehu said, “The third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit is coming on the heels of President Erdogan’s recent State Visit to Nigeria during which several agreements in the fields of energy, defence industry, mining and hydrocarbons were signed to expand existing bilateral ties.

“The Turkish leader had, during the visit to Nigeria, affirmed his commitment to immediately expand the volume of trade between the two countries to 5 billion dollars and the Nigerian delegation will seize the opportunity of the gathering in Istanbul to enhance cooperation with other partners for more trade and investment opportunities in the country.

“It is expected that the Summit would provide guidelines and direction for cooperation with African countries for the next five years.”

President Buhari will be accompanied on the trip by his wife, Aisha Buhari; the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Defence, Maj-Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd); FCT, Mohammed Bello; Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; Agriculture, Mohammed Abubakar; Industry, Trade, and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo; the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno rtd); and the Drector-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.

The President is expected back in Abuja on Sunday, December 19.