Niger and Turkey have agreed to boost cooperation in energy, mining, intelligence, and defense following Niger’s request for Western military personnel to leave and the termination of mining contracts with several Western countries.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, along with Defense Minister Yasar Guler, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, and head of the MIT intelligence agency Ibrahim Kalin, visited Niger’s capital, Niamey, on Wednesday.
The Turkish delegation met with their ministerial counterparts and Niger’s leader, General Abdourahmane Tiani, who took power in July last year after the military council he leads ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and realigned the country’s allegiances.
The junta expelled French troops, ordered the U.S. to withdraw its military personnel, and severed security pacts with the European Union. The Turkish ministers’ visit to Niamey follows a meeting two months ago between Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
On Wednesday, Turkish and Nigerien officials discussed enhancing cooperation in defense and intelligence, Fidan told reporters after their talks. A Turkish defense ministry official stated on Thursday that Guler discussed ways to improve defense and military training cooperation between Turkey and Niger.
The two countries signed a declaration to support and encourage Turkish companies in developing Niger’s oil and natural gas fields, according to Turkey’s energy ministry. Niger, which has Africa’s highest-grade uranium ores and is the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium, is not expected to supply uranium for Turkey’s first nuclear power plant being built by Russia’s Rosatom at Akkuyu in the Mediterranean region, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
Source: Reuters
