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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday met with Gabon President Brice Oligui Nguema in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Erdoğan welcomed his Gabonese counterpart with an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex.
Delegations from Gabon and Türkiye are set to hold a ceremony to sign agreements, while the two leaders will hold a news conference following their bilateral meeting.
The agreements expected to be signed during this visit aim to cement Türkiye’s status as a key development partner for Gabon.
On the sidelines of his first official state visit to Türkiye, Nguema led a strategic session with a panel of leading Turkish investors on July 30, Gabonese media reports said.
Accompanied by senior members of his government, he outlined Gabon’s development priorities and invited Turkish participation in infrastructure, energy, urban development and health care projects.
Major Turkish companies responded positively.
Engineering giant Cengiz Holding expressed interest in road construction and in developing the deep‑water port of Mayumba, a key project for southern Gabon’s economic growth.
Gülsan Holding signaled readiness to pursue major hydroelectric and socio‑economic ventures. Hakan Kıran Architecture offered expertise for Gabon’s urban modernization drive, while Liv Hospital, active in Gabonese patient care, proposed expanded medical training and skills‑transfer programs in Türkiye.
Nguema welcomed the investors’ openness, stressing the need for a lasting economic partnership built on mutual trust and complementarity. He reiterated Gabon’s ambition to attract greater international investment as part of its push to accelerate national development.
Long‑standing cordial ties
Nguema’s visit underscores the strength of Gabon‑Türkiye relations, which have remained warm for over a decade.
Erdoğan personally invited the Gabonese leader, making this the third visit by a Gabonese head of state to Türkiye; the previous two were in 2012 and 2015. In turn, Turkish presidents have traveled to Libreville, with former Prime Minister Abdullah Gül visiting in 2011 and Erdoğan himself in 2013.
These high‑level exchanges have reinforced cooperation in areas such as construction, fishing, aquaculture, vocational training and trade.
In 2013, bilateral trade had already reached $97 million. The countries have continued to explore a “win‑win” partnership model, with Gabon seeking to diversify its economy and Türkiye positioning itself as an emerging economic partner in Africa.
