TİKA Visited El Salvador

After the visit of Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, to our country, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) visited El Salvador to evaluate the potential areas for cooperation and project opportunities between the two countries.

After the first official presidential visit paid to Türkiye by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, in order to have a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Türkiye, on January 20, 2022 and to strengthen the ties of cooperation and friendship between the two countries in the fields of economy, diplomacy, and defense industry, Fatih Abdi Çetin, TİKA’s Coordinator in Mexico, visited San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, in order to hold meetings with the Agency for International Cooperation of El Salvador and perform on-site inspections of the projects planned.

During the visit, meetings were held with Hanania Carla, Minister of Education of El Salvador; Francisco Alabí Montoya, Minister of Health of El Salvador; Erick Doredea, Deputy Minister of Culture of El Salvador; the Office of First Lady; and Karla de Palma, Director-General of the Agency for International Cooperation of El Salvador, in order to negotiate the projects to be developed within the framework of “Growing Up Together,” the national policy for supporting early childhood development that is supported by President Bukele and his government, is monitored by First Lady Gabriela de Bukele, and aims to support children in achieving their full developmental potential from pregnancy to 8 years of age through health services, nutrition, education, learning, and care.

During the visit of Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, to our country, Alexandra Hill, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, signed a memorandum of understanding for the improvement of the development cooperation between the Agency for International Cooperation of El Salvador (ESCO) and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency. On the second day of the visit, Karla de Palma, Director-General of the ESCO, welcomed the delegation of TİKA to the Agency. The Director-General and the delegation discussed the potential areas and opportunities for cooperation between the ESCO and TİKA. Karla de Palma described the ESCO’s mission and areas of activity and the projects it has so far implemented in the fields of health, education, and agriculture.

During the visit, the project for the donation of medical equipment to El Salvador’s Benjamin Bloom Hospital, a state hospital built by TİKA in San Salvador in 2020, was opened as well. During the opening ceremony, opportunities for cooperation for health activities and “Early Childhood” activities within the framework of the policy “Growing Up Together” were discussed.

On the same day, a meeting was held with Maria Lilian Pacas, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of El Salvador, and a visit was paid to San Vicente Department.