AA / Ümit Dönmez
The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Félix Tshisekedi underlined, on Sunday, the importance for the future of his country and relations between the two nations, of the visit to Kinshasa of his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan and Tshisekedi held a joint press conference late Sunday followingnoon following face-to-face and cross-delegation talks.
“This day is a historic day because of its importance in relations between the Republic of Türkiye and the Democratic Republic of Congo”, first underlined the President of the DRC before recalling that “memoranda of understanding and agreements have been signed between the two countries to date, thus completing the three summit meetings that we have held in the space of six months and which symbolize the desire to strengthen our relations”.
Among these texts signed between the two countries are the Military Framework Agreement, the Protocol for the Implementation of Cash Assistance, the Defense Industry Cooperation Agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding on the Construction of Place Financière de Kinshasa, the Memorandum of Infrastructure and River Transport on the Congo River and its tributaries, as well as the Memoranda of Understanding for the Construction of a road and a railway line of 1083 kilometers.
Indicating that the security issue is a “priority” for his country, Félix Tshisékedi declared that his country is confronted “with the phenomenon of armed groups on the one hand and terrorist groups on the other. […] a phenomenon that has repeatedly bereaved our Republic”, he regretted.
The President of the DRC then announced that his country had “requested the support and collaboration of the Republic of Turkey to accompany us in the training and capacity building of our defense and security forces”.
“And beyond the field of security, we mentioned other areas such as infrastructure, health, transport and many other sectors also to come in this collaboration with our Turkish friends”, specified Félix Tshisekedi.
Referring to a “win-win” relationship between the DRC and Türkiye, the President of the DRC pointed out that “there will be investment opportunities in the Democratic Republic of Congo” for Turkish investors.
“On the Congolese side, there will also be the benefit of these investments which will go within the framework of the development of our country, the creation of wealth and the fight once morest poverty”, he underlined.
“Today is therefore a very happy day for the Democratic Republic of Congo and I also hope that we can make our Turkish friends happy by offering them such opportunities”, concluded Félix Tshisekedi.
After his visit to the DRC, the Turkish president will continue his four-day African tour on Monday with official visits to Senegal and then to Guinea-Bissau.
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