Buhari, Wife, Ministers Depart Abuja For Turkey

President Muhammadu Buhari is set to leave Abuja for Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday where he will attend the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit.

This is according to a statement signed by presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu.

The summit, to be hosted by Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is themed ‘‘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.

“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,” Shehu’s statement said.

“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.

“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.