Nigerian President Buhari arrives in Ankara

By Ilkay Guder

ANKARA (AA) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari arrived in Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday.

Buhari was welcomed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Complex accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, National Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli and Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.

Erdogan and Buhari are expected to discuss bilateral and international issues during their meeting. Leaders are also set to hold a news conference.

Buhari is scheduled to attend the Developing-8 Countries (D-8) meeting in Istanbul on Friday.​

The ninth summit marks the 20th anniversary of the economic group consisting of eight emerging economies from the Muslim world.

The organization was established on June 15, 1997 by Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan.

Today, the organization has a combined GDP of $3.7 trillion and includes more than one billion people -- around 15 percent of the world’s population.

Two of its members -- Turkey and Indonesia -- are among the group of the world’s 20 biggest economies.