The Ambassador of Turkey Presents his Credentials to the President and meets the acting Foreign Minister

The Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Şakir Özkan Torunlar, presented his Letter of Credence to President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, this morning, at the President’s Office.

During the call, the President welcomed the Ambassador to the Maldives and extended greetings and good wishes to the President of Turkey, H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The President noted that the Maldives and Turkey have a long history of close relations and that the Maldives attaches high importance to its relations with Turkey. He also expressed sincere gratitude for the continued and strengthened cooperation between the two countries for the common interest of their peoples. The President further expressed appreciation for the leadership role being played by Turkey, especially by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on issues confronting the Islamic Ummah today, and conveyed assurances of the full support of the Maldives to Turkey in its efforts to combat international terrorism and violent extremism. He noted that the Maldives welcomes more Turkish companies to explore investment opportunities in the Maldives, particularly in the tourism sector. The discussions that followed included exploring different areas of cooperation between the two countries.

The Ambassador noted that it is both an honour and a privilege to represent the Republic of Turkey as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Maldives.

The President was accompanied at the call by the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence and National Security, H.E. Adam Shareef Umar, the Minister of State for Foreign Relations at the President’s Office, H.E. Mohamed Naseer and the Secretary, Bilateral at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Ahmed Khaleel.

The Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey also called on the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Adam Shareef Umar.

At the meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this morning, Acting Foreign Minister Adam Shareef congratulated Ambassador Torunlar on his appointment and expressed hope that the Ambassador would further reinforce the strong bilateral ties and cooperation between Maldives and Turkey. Minister Umar and Ambassador Torunlar exchanged views on further enhancing cooperation between both countries and reflected on ways for strengthening the existing ties especially in the areas of trade, investment, tourism and other areas of mutual interest.

Ambassador Torunlar assured the Minister Umar of his willingness and commitment to work with the Government of Maldives to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

Acting Foreign Minister Adam Shareef was accompanied by Secretary Bilateral, His Excellency Ahmed Khaleel and Joint Secretary, Ms. Fathimath Najwa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.