On the second day of President Biya’s current four-day visit to Turkey, Cameroon and Turkey yesterday signed seven major agreements which will speed up cooperation. President Biya and the First Lady, Chantal began their lightning programme of activities yesterday with what is most cherished by every Turk: the public recognition of Mustafa Kemal aka Atatürk , the founder of modern Turkey who is virtually revered here. Even before the formal welcome ceremony at the presidential palace, Cameroon’s First Couple made it a point of duty to lay a wreath on the tomb of the national hero at the impressive mausoleum built for him in Ankara. Before leaving the mausoleum, President Biya noted in the visitor’s book that he found the structure particularly beautiful and very befitting for all that Mustafa Kemal represented as a political visionary and statesman. Then came Act Two; the very impressive official welcome ceremony at the presidential palace. President and Mrs Biya arrived at the presidential residential grounds at about 10.55AM (9.30AM Yaounde time) and were greeted as they alighted from their limousine by the President of Turkey Abdullah Gül and his wife Hayrünisa. The two couples then moved a few steps up into a raised platform from where they listened to national anthems of the two nations played by a detachment of the Turkish armed forces. In the background a 21-gun salute resonated as if to immortalize this rare moment of the first-ever visit by a Cameroonian Head of State.

President Biya then proceeded to inspect a guard of honour mounted by four detachments of the various corps of the armed forces. Midway into the inspection, President Biya stopped at a loud speaker to shout out a military order in Turkish: “Merhaba Asker” or Hello, Soldier in English. At the end of the inspection, the two Presidents went into a 30-minute tête-à-tête before ministers and other experts from the two sides joined for enlarged discussions which ended one hour later with the signing of seven cooperation agreements and MoUs spanning sectors including diplomatic academies, communication, defence, hydrocarbons, mineral exploitation, maritime and tourism. Four Cameroonian ministers accompanying the President 6 Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo (External Relations), Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi (Economy), Issa Tchiroma Bakari (Communication) and Basile Atangana Kouna (Water and Energy) took turns on the high table and under the watchful eyes of the two presidents, to append their signatures on the various agreements. Then was the press conference during which the two Heads of State restated their commitment to see relations develop much faster.

President Abdullah Gül was full of praises for Cameroon which he said had the singular advantage of being the gateway into Central Africa; an advantage his country would like to benefit from. He said since his visit to Cameroon in March 2010, exchanges have intensified with a whopping 75 percent increase in same. He expressed the desire to see Cameroon appoint a resident Ambassador in Ankara with the hope that the thrust injected by such an appointment and the general upbeat posture in relations could take exchanges to about 5OO million US dollars in the next few years. President Biya told journalists that Cameroon was very comfortable doing with Turkey because of the latter’s win-win disposition.

The President’s long day of business continued at the Turkish Parliament where he received at lunch by the president of the Great Assembly of Turkey Cemil Gigek. Responding to the President’s welcome remarks, President Paul Biya said he had come to Turkey to “render homage to this great nation for its remarkable breakthroughs in the economic, social and technological domains.” Through the Turkish people’s representatives, the head of State wished that Cameroon’s invitation to Turkish businessmen to come and invest in Cameroon will be well received.

The President of the republic conferred with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Prime Minister’s office before leaving late in the afternoon for the OSTIN industrial zone outside Ankara. This is an impressive economic layout which is a veritable showcase of Turkey’s economic and technological prowess. The biggest of Turkey’s industrial zones, that visited by the Head of State stands out because of the many attractive incentives it offers to Turkish businessmen and inventors through low-cost gas, electricity and other inputs. The President of the Ankara Chamber of Industry, Nurretin Ozdebir explained the functioning of the zone to President Biya and invited him to take advantage of the facilities by getting his organization involved in Cameroon’s industrialization drive; president Biya quickly obliged, instantly asking Ministers of the economy sector present in the hall to prepare invitations for exploratory visits by officials of the zone in view of the immediate creation of such a zone in Cameroon.

The President of the Republic left the area at nightfall, arriving the city centre barely on time for another important function: the official luncheon organized in his honour, that of the First Lady and the accompanying delegation at the presidential palace by President Abdullah and Mrs Hayrünisa Gül.

Earlier in the day, The First Lady visited a centre for the training of young people on ancient and contemporary art in Ankara. The purely economic component of the visit begins today when the President leaves for Istanbul, Turkey’s economic capital.