The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, poses with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this Thursday at the Presidential Palace in Ankara.ADEM ALTAN (AFP)
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has started 2022 with an official visit to Turkey, from where this Friday he traveled to the United Arab Emirates, on a tour seeking investment in order to diversify the dependence of the Central American country on its traditional ally. , United States, with whose Administration relations have deteriorated in recent years after the approval of sanctions against members of the Salvadoran Executive. Bukele's foreign agenda also includes trips to Russia, Spain, France, Italy, South Korea and Singapore throughout the year.
"Historically, we have been a unipolar country, we have only looked towards the United States, but it is also important for El Salvador to look towards other places, one of those places is Turkey," said the Salvadoran president this Thursday during a press conference with the president. Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he signed six bilateral cooperation agreements in the economy, trade, defense, diplomacy and education sectors.
In addition, during his visit of almost a week to Istanbul and Ankara, Bukele and the ministerial delegation that accompanied him held meetings with Turkish businessmen. "We have advanced conversations and investment projects of Turkish companies in the ports of El Salvador," announced the Salvadoran president. The possibility of investment and commercial exchange in the tourism and energy sector (with the construction of a geothermal plant) has also been discussed, and the possibility of selling armed drones or even, Bukele ventured, the "launch of the first Salvadoran satellite, with Turkish technology. Bukele showed his admiration for the development of the Turkish economy (estimated at 10% by 2021, despite its growing problems of inflation and currency depreciation) and said that he wants his country "to be part of this growth" of Turkey,that “in a few years it will be a very great power”.
Erdogan, for his part, promised to return the official visit and open a diplomatic mission in San Salvador, to accompany Turkish investments and help turn the country "into a regional logistics center."
El Salvador installed its embassy in Ankara last year and plans to expand the number of diplomatic representatives, according to the Foreign Minister, Alexandra Hill, in an act together with her Turkish counterpart.
At this time, a meeting of the Presidents @nayibbukele and @RTErdogan is being held together with their delegations.
They will then give a press conference to publicize the results of these meetings.
pic.twitter.com/Q6p2fcuyZk
– Presidential House 🇸🇻 (@PresidenciaSV) January 20, 2022
Turkey has increased its relations with Latin America in recent years with the opening of almost twenty embassies, the establishment of air connections and, increasingly, thanks to the penetration of popular Turkish soap operas. Until November 2021, bilateral trade with the region reached 12.8 billion dollars, a third more than in all of 2020. Turkey maintains free trade agreements with Chile and Venezuela and is in negotiations with Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, as well as with Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance.
El Salvador is still a small drop in this commercial relationship: despite the fact that in the last year the volume almost doubled, it only reaches 50 million dollars (about 44 million euros).
Although after the signed agreements it is expected to reach 500 million dollars (about 440 million euros) in the next five years, that is, the equivalent of 2% of the current Salvadoran GDP.
All in all, the US continues to be El Salvador's main trading partner, as it is the destination of 40% of its exports and the origin of 30% of its imports.
Bukele's visit to Turkey has aroused great expectation not only because of his family origins (his ancestors emigrated to El Salvador from what was then Ottoman Palestine), but also because of his staunch defense of Bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies have been all the rage in Turkey as many Turks invest in them to protect their savings from the loss in value that the lira has suffered, more than 45% in the last year. However, it has not transpired if both leaders discussed the issue, since while the Salvadoran has converted bitcoin into legal tender in his country, Erdogan is preparing a law that restricts and controls the use of cryptocurrencies.
However, Bukele's visit has also been criticized by the Salvadoran opposition because human rights organizations - and the Turkish opposition itself - consider that Erdogan has imposed an authoritarian regime.
Press freedom defense associations also point out that Turkey is one of the countries in the world, along with China, that keeps the most journalists in jail.
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