Prime Minister Gaston Browne has put forward a number of proposals aimed at strengthening the bilateral relations between Antigua and Barbuda and the Republic of Turkiye (Turkey).
The prime minister made the point during a courtesy call by the newly accredited Ambassador of Turkiye to Antigua and Barbuda, Emriye Bağdagül Ormancı.
Turkiye and Antigua and Barbuda established diplomatic relations 26 years ago and according to PM Browne, the ties between both nations have been ‘quite good’. However, the Antigua and Barbuda leaders believes that there are opportunities to strengthen and further deepen those relations.
“I have met your president on a number of occasions so there is some familiarity there. However, I believe there is a need for us to put a framework together to increase trade and investment and to see how we can have deeper cooperation going forward. There are lots of areas in which we can cooperate and I am hoping that arising from this visit that we can put together a technical team to look at areas where we can strengthen our technical cooperation,” he stated.
As an example, PM Browne suggested that the area of student exchanges in the field of education is one such area especially with the presence of the University of West Indies FIC here.
“We have the campus here and we would like to see student exchanges with your universities in Turkiye,” he suggested.
Turning to the area of tourism, the prime minister noted that Turkiye has a ‘strong’ tourism product and with tourism being Antigua and Barbuda’s main industry, there may be opportunities for training for its nationals in this sector in Turkiye.
In the area of diplomacy, PM Browne noted that Turkiye has in the past sought Antigua and Barbuda’s support on a number of initiatives as he sees the country as one of the world’s emerging powers.
For her part, Ambassador Ormanci agreed with PM Browne on the need to strengthen the existing relations between the two countries and she supported the suggestions made by the prime minister in this regard.
“We need to establish, first of all, the legal framework and begin working on some drafts as we seek to negotiate our future relations in basic areas such as education, culture economic cooperation, youth, sports as we strengthen relations in these fields as well,” she remarked.
The ambassador also identified business and investments as areas of interest for Turkiye as its business people are keen on investing in this part of the world. “I hope in the coming months to have a Turkish business delegation visiting the region,” she declared.
