Turkey and Myanmar very close despite distance: FM Davutoğlu

NAYPYIDAW - Anadolu Agency

Turkey and Myanmar are very close to each other despite the geographical distance, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (L) has said during a trip to the country. AA photo

Turkey and Myanmar are very close to each other despite the geographical distance, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said during a trip to the country.

Accompanied by a delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Davutoğlu met Myanmar’s Agriculture Minister Myint Hla in the capital city of Naypyidaw.

Both ministers attended the ceremony in which four tractors and other equipment donated by the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) were delivered to Myanmar.

Speaking at the ceremony, Davutoğlu said he was happy to see increasing cooperation between Turkey and Myanmar during his second visit to the country.

Turkey is ready to share its experience with Myanmar with the ranking of the seventh biggest country in agricultural production, Davutoğlu said, inviting the minister to Turkey to observe recent developments in agriculture. For his part, Myint Hla praised Turkey’s support for the country.

Separately, the foreign minister met with OIC chief Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. Davutoğlu and İhsanoğlu discussed the visit of the OIC delegation and the messages to be conveyed to Myanmar authorities, sources said.

İhsanoğlu and several ministers from the Islamic body are scheduled to meet top government officials to discuss sectarian violence that has gripped the predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million. More than 240 people have died and 240,000 others fled their homes in the last year, many of them Rohingya Muslims hunted down by Buddhist machete-wielding mobs, occasionally as security forces looked on.