Serious rounds of business begin in Ankara, the Turkish capital this morning.

The small locality of Esenboga, located some 40 kilometers out of Ankara hosts the Ankara international airport. Its usual quietude, apart from the noise from landing and taking off planes, was momentarily lost yesterday as some 100 young Cameroonians kept the place in warm animation in song and dance as they awaited the arrival of President Paul Biya and First Lady Chantal. The plane carrying the two august visitors touched down at the VIP wing of the airport at about 5.55 Pm local time (4.55PM in Yaounde). On the welcome line was the deputy Prime minister of Turkey Mr Bekir Bodzag who will incidentally accompany President although his four-day stay in Turkey. Also on the welcome line was Turkey’s Ambassador to Cameroon Omer Faruk Dogan, cameroon’s Ambassador to Egypt Mohamadou Labarang as well as the Governor and Mayor of Ankara. The presidential couple exchanged briefly with their Turkish hosts at the airport lounge before taking off for the 40-kilometer ride in the thick evening traffic to downtown Ankara where they will lodged at the Sheraton. But before leaving the airport premises, the presidential couple could not resist going up to the chanting and dancing group of some 100 Cameroonians, mostly students, who had made the trip to the airport. “The Cameroonian Students’ Association in Turkey wishes the Presidential couple a very warm welcome” was a message carried on a huge stretched out banner. It is said that some of the students came from very distant locations for this act of patriotism.

Accompanying the President are several members of government draw essentially from the economic sector as well as chief actors of the business community in Cameroon such as the President of the Chamber of Commerce Christophe Eken, the chairman of the confederation of Cameroon Industry, GICAM, André Fotso and the CEO of the Fadil Group of companies, Mohamadou Fadil who were very visible at the airport welcome ceremony. Worthy of note at the airport was the presence of Rigobert Song Bahanag who is on the President’s official entourage. The former captain of the Indomitable Lions played professional football in Turkey for some seven years.

Whirlwind activity

From very early this morning, President Paul Biya and the First Lady are going into a very busy schedule. The day begins with an emotional ceremony at the Ataturk Mausoleum where the founder of modern Turkey, Mostafa Kemal Ataturk lies in eternal rest. Here the President of the Republic and the First Lady will lay a wreath on the tomb of the Turkish hero before setting off to the presidential palace in Ankara where a formal welcome ceremony will be held. The welcome will be closely followed by a one-to-one between President Paul Biya and his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül. The official programme slates the talks to last for some 90 minutes before members of the entourage of the two leaders join them for enlarged talks between the two delegations. The talks will end with the signing of several cooperation agreements. Insiders here say there could be up to ten of them spanning economic as well as political domains. In fact, Turkey’s Ambassador to Cameroon Omer Faruk Dogan gave a hint last Friday in Yaounde when he met with the Head of State as preparations were heating up for this visit; he hinted that agreements could break new ground by going to the areas of defence.

The two leaders will host a press conference following the signing of the agreements before President Biya leaves for the Turkish National Assembly for a scheduled meeting with the President of that legislative body. The President of the National Assembly is expected to host a lunch for President Biya and his delegation. He leaves the Assembly grounds at about 2.50 PM (1.50 PM Yaounde time for a visit of the OSTIN economic zone outside Ankara.

The First Lady has a separate programme after the formal welcome ceremony. From the presidential palace after the welcome, she is expected to visit the Ankara Maturation Institute where young people are initiated into ancient and contemporary art. She will have a separate lunch at the Gunaydin restaurant before reuniting with the President of the Republic at the Ankara Sheraton later in the afternoon.