TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja on Thursday to attend the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul.

The summit is being hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

According to a statement by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, 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.

“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 reads.

“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.”

The president will be accompanied on the trip by Aisha Buhari, his wife; Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs; Bashir Magashi, minister of defence; Mohammed Bello, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT); Osagie Ehanire, minister of health; Mohammed Abubakar, minister of Agriculture; Adeniyi Adebayo, minister of industry, trade, and investment; Babagana Monguno, national security adviser, and Ahmed Abubakar, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency.

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