Turkey and Nigeria Wednesday pledged closer economic ties as they signed several deals to step up cooperation, Anatolia news agency reported.

"We determined jointly that there are many opportunities in the economic field... Our trade (volume) has reached nearly one billion dollars but Nigeria holds great investment opportunities," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, according to Anatolia.

Gul was speaking after talks with visiting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, which were followed by the signing of accords on cooperation in the areas of defence, tourism, education and the mutual promotion of investment.

"Nigeria places a great importance on ties with Turkey and believes that those ties should be strengthened both on political and economic level," Jonathan said, according to Anatolia.

He singled out a privatisation process in his country's electricity sector as an investment opportunity for Turkish business people.

Gul added that Turkish officials discussed also possible oil and natural gas deals with their counterparts from the resource-rich African country.

Turkey relies almost exclusively on foreign supplies to meet its growing energy demand.

On Thursday, Jonathan was to attend a meeting between Nigerian business people accompanying him on the trip and their Turkish counterparts in Istanbul.

Turkey's Islamist-rooted government has sought closer ties with African nations as part of a drive to increase the country's regional influence and help Turkish enterpreneurs boost trade.

Source : AFP.