Turkey, Zambia to boost bilateral relations

By Munira Abdelmenan

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish-Zambian Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group has pledged to strengthen relations between the two countries, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The group said it is ready to share experiences in agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, energy, education, and security.

Atilla Odunc, chairperson of the group, and Joseph Chilengi, Zambia’s ambassador to Turkey, discussed areas of cooperation during a bilateral meeting held in Ankara on Wednesday.

“We strongly believe that this inter-parliamentary friendship group will continue working hard to strengthen relations between our friendly countries in the years to come,” Odunc said.

Chilengi recalled that the 12 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) signed between Zambia and Turkey during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Zambia require ratification by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

“It is Zambia’s desire to take the relations between our two countries to a higher level through initiatives such as the parliamentary friendship groups,” he added.

Yunus Kilic, vice chairperson of the group, stated that his team is looking forward to visit Zambia and meeting their counterparts.

Orhan Kircali, secretary general of the group, also hailed relations of the two countries saying: “We are also happy to learn that we have 136 Zambian students here in Turkey under the sponsorship of the Turkish authorities, we want to collaborate more on this.”

The National Assembly of Zambia is in the process of establishing the Zambia-Turkey Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group.