President Erdoğan: We have reaffirmed our commitment to our $5 billion trade volume target with Nigerian President Tinubu

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his delegation at the Presidential Complex. Following the meetings, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a signing ceremony for agreements and a joint press conference with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. President Erdoğan announced that the meeting covered issues regarding cooperation between the two countries.

"We comprehensively evaluated our relations in the fields of trade, investments, energy, education, and the defense industry with the President and his esteemed delegation today"

Expressing his pleasure in hosting Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Ankara and providing information about the meeting, President Erdoğan said, "I hope that our meetings today and the contacts the Nigerian delegation will make in our business circles will lead to auspicious outcomes. Beyond being a friendly country to us, Nigeria is one of our closest trade partners in Sub-Saharan Africa with its population of 230 million. Nigeria is also a strategically important country with which we are in close cooperation on many issues concerning the Islamic world, especially Palestine, within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the D-8. We comprehensively evaluated our relations in the fields of trade, investments, energy, education, and the defense industry with the President and his esteemed delegation today," he stated.

"In our meetings today, we reaffirmed our commitment to our $5 billion trade volume target"

Recalling his visit to Nigeria in 2021, President Erdoğan said, "We have taken decisions that will carry our cooperation, the framework of which we drew during my visit to Nigeria, much further. At this point, I observe with pleasure that there is a strong political will and determination on the Nigerian side, just as there is on ours. The fact that the President is accompanied by numerous ministers and high-level officials is the clearest indication of this political determination. First of all, we see that we have significant potential in the fields of trade and investments. In our meetings today, we reaffirmed our commitment to our $5 billion trade volume target and discussed the steps that need to be taken. We also discussed opportunities to support our investments in Nigeria. We believe that the Joint Economic and Trade Committee, which we agreed to establish today, will be beneficial in this regard. Within the scope of development cooperation, we desire to contribute to the prosperity of our Nigerian brothers and sisters with the opening of a TİKA office in Abuja," he said.

Underlining that Nigeria is the largest oil and natural gas producer in Africa, Erdoğan stated, "The energy sector holds an important place in the initiatives to restructure the country's economy since Tinubu came to power in 2023. We want to evaluate the potential in this field in terms of both investments and commercial dimensions, and we attach importance to the cooperation of Turkish Petroleum and BOTAŞ with Nigerian institutions," he said.

"We stated that we are ready to share our country's significant experience in the fight against terrorism"

Stating that terrorist organizations have begun to emerge in Africa, especially in the Sahel regions, Erdoğan said, "We stand with the friendly people of Nigeria in their fight against terrorism under the leadership of Mr. Tinubu. Indeed, today we evaluated opportunities for closer cooperation in the fields of military training and intelligence. We stated that we are ready to share our country's significant experience in the fight against terrorism. I also believe that we will soon see the positive results of the meetings that Nigerian officials will hold with our leading defense industry firms within the scope of this visit," he said.

"We are happy that many young Nigerians are receiving education in our country"

Expressing that cooperation in the field of education was also discussed, President Erdoğan continued as follows:

"We are happy that many young Nigerians are receiving education in our country. I also believe that with the start of our Maarif Foundation's activities in Nigeria, we can offer additional opportunities for Nigeria's young population. With the education cooperation agreement we signed today, we will further strengthen the contractual basis of our cooperation."

Speaking at the press conference, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated that they discussed every issue concerning both countries, adding that as Nigeria, they are at the heart of the African continent and can be trusted regarding the commitments they have made on democracy, freedoms, and prosperity.

The agreements signed between Turkey and Nigeria are as follows:

"Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Diaspora Policy between the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission. Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Field of Media and Communication. Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Higher Education between the Republic of Turkey and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Memorandum of Understanding on Halal Quality Infrastructure between the Halal Accreditation Agency of the Republic of Turkey and the Nigeria National Accreditation System. Joint Declaration Establishing the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO). Protocol on Military Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Education between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Diplomacy Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey and the Foreign Service Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Ministry of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Turkey and the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."