Doha, 6 December 2021 (TDI): The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has reached Qatar for a 2-day visit. The leaders of both countries will sign more than a dozen bilateral agreements. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also met Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. Both Foreign Ministers gave news briefing pertaining to opportunities for Gulf countries in the context of the current economic challenges of Turkey. In that sense, Turkey seeks to alleviate the inflation effects and currency crisis.
Qatari representative highlights opportunities
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed reiterated Qatar’s interest to invest heavily in Turkey. Doha and Istanbul will sign pacts to focus on areas of strategic interest. As well, Turkish state media reported that the meeting aims at the enhancement of cooperation between the two allies.
President @RTErdogan in Qatar https://t.co/oaytI05QC0 pic.twitter.com/Adg7mNVX4U
— Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye (@trpresidency) December 6, 2021
Turkish Premier Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani will meet on Tuesday. Both Heads of State are scheduled to preside over the 7th Qatar-Turkey Supreme Strategic Committee meeting. In addition, a delegation of Turkish ministers as well as business leaders will also meet Qatari counterparts in Doha.
On the other hand, the Turkish ambassador to Qatar Mustafa Goksu stated that areas of cooperation moreover include culture & sports, trade & investment, relief & development, health and religious affairs. Furthermore, Goksu indicated that the level of mutual trade will also rapidly increase as depicted in the trend since the first Supreme Strategic meeting in 2015. Both countries have already signed many agreements under respective committees.
Turkey maintains its only strategic military base of Gulf region in Doha, harbouring thousands of Turkish soldiers. Qatari has also stationed its troops and military equipment including 36 air force fighter jets in Turkey. Apart from this, financial, monetary, commercial and economic cooperation also has increased as depicted in an increase in the range of limit from $5bn to $15bn currency swaps since the last Supreme Strategic committee meeting.
Turkey & Qatar seek to restore ties with Gulf countries in recent months
Erdogan stated that ‘Apart from Qatar, we’re trying to improve our cooperation with other countries in the Gulf.’ Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman will expectedly pay visit to Qatar this week. It is also being expected that the Saudi Crown Prince will meet Turkish President Erdogan in Qatar this week. Afghanistan will also be point of discussion. Turkey has been focusing on assertion of its diplomatic efforts through strategic cooperation.
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