President Erdoğan is paying official visits to Sudan, Chad and Tunisia, 24-27 December 2017.
President Erdoğan’s visits to Sudan and Chad are of historic importance in that they are the first visits from Turkey to these countries at the Presidential level. President Erdoğan’s visit to Tunisia constitutes the first visit from Turkey to this country at the Presidential level since 2012.
President Erdoğan was welcomed by President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan with an official ceremony on December 24th.
President Erdoğan and his Sudanese counterpart had a joint press conference after they held their bilateral meeting and co-chaired the meeting between delegations.
President Erdoğan addressed Sudanese members of parliament at the National Assembly of Sudan.
Thirteen bilateral agreements that included topics such as strategic cooperation, trade, forestry, education, tourism, mining, science and technology were signed.
President Erdoğan was also conferred with the Order of the State of Sudan by President Al-Bashir.
Ottoman era architectural sites that have been restored by TIKA in the island of Sevakin were visited on 25th of December, Monday.
Turkey’s economy minister on Monday suggested conducting trade with Sudan using domestic currencies as a way to boost bilateral commerce.
Turkey and Sudan could build a system that provides an opportunity to use domestic currencies in return for exporting to each other, Nihat Zeybekci told the Sudan-Turkey Business Forum held as part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Sudan.
He said that the two countries had taken considerable steps for the future through signing a high-level strategic cooperation agreement.
Business people’s problems in a number of areas such as banking and transactions require mutual solutions, he added.
“We signed an economic cooperation agreement and put our two countries on the track of free trade,” Zeybekci said.
The two countries soon will set targets and draw up a roadmap together, he stressed, adding “I think we will solve a number of problems when we meet again.”
He underlined that Sudan had a great need for infrastructure investments, while Turkey needed several agricultural products grown in Sudan.
Turkey’s commercial counsellor in capital Khartoum will take office within 10 days in order to promote bilateral trade ties, he said.
He added that Turkey and Sudan’s economic relations should be high level and based on a win-win situation.
Abdullatif Ahmed Mohamed Ijaimi, Sudan’s agriculture minister, said early Monday: “We are looking for a strategic relationship between the two countries in various aspects and various fields of economic and social development.”
In 2014, Turkey and Sudan signed an agreement that aims to rationalize the use of resources and agricultural potential and contribute to sustainable food objectives.
Under the agreement, around 780,000 hectares across five regions were earmarked for investment by Turkish entrepreneurs.
Today is the last day of Erdoğan’s two-day visit to Sudan. Tomorrow he is due to proceed to Chad and then Tunisia.