Buhari, Wife, 7 Ministers Leave Abuja For Turkey

Buhari, Wife, 7 Ministers Leave Abuja For Turkey

By Our Correspondent

President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja for Istanbul, Turkey later today to attend the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, being hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey.

The presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, in a release said the President 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 and Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire.

Others are 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.

Shehu states the Summit's theme as ‘‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity,’’ explaining that it is meant among other things to review the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014.

He also  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.

According to the presidential media aide, 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 while 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.

He added that the Summit is expected to provide guidelines and direction for cooperation with African countries for the next five years.

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