Turkey, Nigeria plan to sign hydrocarbons, mining, energy deals: Minister

By Zeynep Beyza Kilic

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey and Nigeria plan to sign three agreements in the hydrocarbon, mining and energy sectors during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s official visit to Nigeria, Turkey's energy and natural resources minister said on Friday.

Erdogan is scheduled to pay an official visit to Nigeria later this month.

"We reviewed the existing commercial and economic relations and future investment opportunities and exchanged views on the development of bilateral trade and the improvement of the investment environment," Fatih Donmez said after the fifth term of the Turkey-Nigeria Joint Economic Commission Meeting.

Donmez said that the officials from the two countries discussed cooperation opportunities in the fields of energy and mining as well as industry, technology, agriculture, transportation, health, education, culture, tourism and sports.

"We identified the areas of work to be carried out for cooperation in the upcoming period, exchanged ideas on what we can do about them, and started preparations," he added.

The trade volume between Turkey and Nigeria reached $2 billion at the end of 2020.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, is among Turkey's oil and gas suppliers. "Nigeria continues to be the country's largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa," Donmez said.

The oil companies of the two countries will evaluate their investments and cooperation options for future projects together, the minister added.