President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday leave Abuja for Istanbul, Turkey to attend the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
With him on the trip are six ministers and two security chiefs.
The summit with the theme ‘‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity’’ has, among its agenda, reviewing the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014.
A statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) Thursday explained that 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.
It recalled that 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, noting that 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.
The statement said 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 Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.
The President is expected back in Abuja on Sunday, December 19.