Türkiye and Mauritania on Sunday inaugurated a "Trade House" in Nouakchott that officials say will help revamp bilateral relations between the two countries.
The opening ceremony in the capital brought together many officials, scholars, businesspeople and intellectuals.
Addressing the event, Türkiye’s Ambassador to Nouakchott Akif Menevşe said the "Trade House" would serve as a commercial bridge between Türkiye and Mauritania.
Menevşe underscored that it would set a model for strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
He also stressed that the embassy was ready to provide all kinds of support for Turkish citizens who want to invest in Mauritania.
Ubeyd Koç, the general manager of the Trade House, underlined that the Embassy of Türkiye always supported and followed his project closely.
Koç said they opened the Trade House in response to the growing interest and demand for Turkish products in Mauritania.
Mauritanian citizens showed great interest in the Türkiye-Mauritania Trade House, where several Turkish products were presented.
Inspired by shared values and history, political relations between the two countries continue to develop at the highest level.
Many Turkish companies operate in Mauritania, primarily in fishery, infrastructure and construction. And the number of Turkish entrepreneurs in Mauritania is increasing day by day.
Mauritanians have expressed great interest in Turkish products and have started to prefer Türkiye for education, tourism and health tourism.
Since the late 1980s, Mauritania has cultivated ties with Türkiye as a possible source of aid and investment. Türkiye, in return, has provided it with substantial economic assistance and funded the construction of hospitals, schools, power plants and roads through the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).
Türkiye and Mauritania share common historical and cultural bonds. The founding president of Mauritania, Mokhtar Ould Daddah, carried out an official visit to Türkiye in 1974.
A visit at the foreign ministerial level was paid to Mauritania from Türkiye on March 8-9, 2008. Afterward, an official visit of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to Türkiye in 2010 and the reciprocal opening of embassies furthered bilateral relations.
Since the opening of the Turkish Embassy in Nouakchott on April 2011, one visit on the presidential level and two visits on the ministerial level have been carried out.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan officially visited Mauritania on Feb. 28, 2018, and held bilateral meetings with Abdel Aziz.
It marked the first-ever visit by a Turkish president to Mauritania and helped to improve the bilateral relations between the two countries.
In a show of solidarity, Mauritania lastly shipped aid to Türkiye after the devastating earthquakes struck its southeastern region on Feb. 6, killing more than 50,000 people, razing hundreds of thousands of buildings, and leaving many homeless.