President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to travel to Istanbul, Turkey, on Wednesday to participate in the 9th D-8 Summit beginning on Friday.

This was contained in a statement signed on Tuesday by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity.

Buhari will also embark on a working to Ankara, the Turkish capital, on the invitation of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey.

“In Ankara, the President will have a tete-a-tete with his Turkish counterpart while delegations from both countries will hold discussions in various fields including defence cooperation, security, educational and migration issues,” the statement read.

“The Nigerian leader will also visit the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey in Ankara where he will meet with the Speaker, Ismail Kahraman.

“While in Istanbul, the Turkish commercial centre, President Buhari will use the occasion of the D-8 Summit to bolster warm and growing ties across a broad range of areas of cooperation with leaders of the D8-member countries, namely Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey.”

The D-8, also known as Developing-8, is an organisation for development cooperation among eight developing countries of the world, namely: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey.

The theme for this year’s summit is ‘Expanding Opportunities through Cooperation’.

At the end of the summit, the Heads of State and Government would adopt a communiqué, also known as the ‘Istanbul Declaration’.

Buhari will be accompanied on the trip by some ministers and top government officials, including Hameed Ali, Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service.

It is also expected that Buhari and Ali will discuss the illegal importation of firearms into Nigeria from Turkey, with a view to putting an end to the ugly trend.