President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived Istanbul for the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit. He arrived Thursday night.
Nigeria’s President was received at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.
Newsdiaryonline reports that prior to President Buhari’s arrival,some ministers were seen at the airport waiting to welcome him.The ministers sighted include Adeniyi Adebayo, Industry, Trade and investment, Major General Bashir Magashi, Defence, as well as Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama and Health Minister, Osagie Enahire.
The President was also welcomed by Turkish and Nigerian officials who were on ground in Istanbul.
Senior Special Assistant to the President media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, had earlier in the day announced the president’s trip to Turkey for the Summit.
Quoting the organisers, Shehu said the theme of the Summit is ‘‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity’’ and the agenda includes reviewing the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014.
Shehu further noted 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.
The statement 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 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.
Shehu said, 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.
Buhari will return to Abuja on Sunday, December 19.
