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Turkey and Somalia have signed a government-to-government memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in oil and natural gas exploration in Somalia’s onshore and offshore blocks. The offshore oil and natural gas deal includes exploration, evaluation, development, and production of oil in Somalia’s land and sea blocks.
Turkey will support Somalia in exploring oil and natural gas resources both agree on joint activities between the two countries to explore oil and natural gas in Somalia’s onshore and offshore blocks. The agreement was formalised in the presence of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey, Alparslan Bayraktar, and the Somali Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Abdirizak Omar Mohamed. Under this agreement, collaborative efforts will be undertaken to harness Somalia’s resources for its people’s benefit, stated the Turkish minister.
Over the few last years, Turkey has managed to take advantage of the complex situation that Somalia has been going through, accelerating its efforts to provide military and economic support to Mogadishu, in a way that opens the path for Ankara to exploit Somalia’s energy resources.
The oil and natural gas exploration agreements came two weeks after Somalia’s parliament passed a bilateral defence and economic collaboration pact, a 10-year agreement that gives authority to Türkiye to protect Somali waters. The pact not only covers protecting Somalia’s waters but also sets the stage for the establishment of a naval force to secure the Horn of Africa nation.
The accord marks a commitment to engage in joint activities that will contribute to developing and utilizing Somalia’s petroleum and natural gas reserves. This strategic move is part of Turkey’s broader objective to strengthen its presence in the Horn of Africa through new energy partnerships, fostering mutual benefits and cooperation in the region, Bayraktar added.
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Ties between Turkey and Somalia have been one of the defining features of the Turkish foreign policy towards Africa. In 2011, then-prime minister – now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the first non-African leader to visit Somalia in almost two decades. Since then, he has visited the country on multiple occasions and hosted his Somali counterparts in Türkiye several times.
