By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
Nigeria and Turkey have signed nine agreements aimed at strengthening bilateral relations during President Bola Tinubu’s state visit to Ankara.
The agreements were signed by President Tinubu and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, following a bilateral meeting attended by ministers and senior officials from both countries.
Olusegun Dada, Tinubu’s special assistant on social media, confirmed that the two countries exchanged nine agreements covering key areas of cooperation.
The agreements include cooperation on diaspora policy, defence, higher education, media and communication, and education. Others are a joint declaration establishing the Economy and Trade Joint Committee (JETCO), cooperation in halal quality infrastructure, collaboration between Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy Academy and Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Service Academy, as well as cooperation between Turkey’s Ministry of Social Services and Nigeria’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
According to Turkish media, the media and communication agreement is designed to promote the exchange of information, expertise and best practices between the two countries. It also provides for joint seminars, workshops, training programmes and reciprocal visits for officials and experts in the broadcasting and communication sectors. The agreement will run for an initial period of three years.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Tinubu, Erdoğan said Turkey is committed to achieving a $5 billion trade volume target with Nigeria. He added that discussions toward meeting the target are already underway.
President Tinubu’s visit is expected to further deepen economic, diplomatic and strategic cooperation between both countries.
