Meeting between the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Sierra Leone, 11th March 2022
After the exchange of courtesies, both the President and Foreign Minister cited the excellent and cordial cooperation between their two countries at the level of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Sierra Leone's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (L), and the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (R)
They considered to strengthen bilateral engagements with the view to promoting each other’s views at the multilateral level.
The meeting informed about the number of Sierra Leonean students in Northern Cyprus, which is about 420.
The Foreign Minister underlined the sustained commitment of his government in advancing human capital development. To this end, he emphasized the need for partners such as Northern Cyprus to assist the GSL in its development strides.
The Foreign Minister informed the meeting that Sierra Leone is a resilient country, amidst its struggles over the years, it is making a steady progress to become a middle-income country.
He further detailed the establishment of three new universities in Sierra Leone. In the light of this, he made a case for consideration; by requesting the President of Northern Cyprus to annually grant 50 scholarships to Sierra Leoneans for a period of five years.
Both countries agreed to support each other’s developmental efforts and to work together in the interest of promoting peace and security.
The President sought Sierra Leone’s acknowledgement for his country to be considered as a nation-state by the UN. He stressed the support that Northern Cyprus is enjoying from Turkey, which is the only UN member that recognizes Northern Cyprus as a state. He reiterated the close cooperation between Sierra Leone and Turkey.
Both the President and the Foreign Minister agreed to enhance cooperation in the areas of tourism and culture. They also agreed to have an exchange visit of trade and investment delegation before the third quarter of this year.
They sought to consolidate cooperation in the sectors of infrastructure, education, health and energy.
The Embassy of Sierra Leone in Ankara was instructed to visit Northern Cyprus with the view to facilitating the establishment of technical cooperation between the two countries.
The meeting also agreed to work towards formalizing bilateral relations and cooperation between the two.