No: 52, 06 February 2015

H.E.Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, will accompany H.E. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who will pay official visits to Colombia, Cuba and Mexico between 10 and 13 February. Afterwards, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will proceed to Guatemala with the aim of participating in the First Forum of Ministers of Foreign Affairs between Turkey and Central American Integration System (SICA) and pay a bilateral visit to this country. Along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, holding the term presidency of SICA, the Foreign Ministers of Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic will participate in the Forum.

Within the scope of his visits, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu will have contacts with his counterparts and sign various agreements. Moreover, the agreement on Turkey's observer membership to SICA will be signed during the Forum to be held in Guatemala.

Establishing institutional relations with the regional organizations constitutes an important dimension of Turkey's strategy of opening up to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). By means of Turkey's observer membership to SICA, Turkey will have established relations with the leading institutions in all sub-regions within the LAC region.

This first visit to the region after an interval of 20 years at Presidential level, the participation of Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu in the First Forum of Ministers of Foreign Affairs between Turkey and SICA, as well as the visit to Guatemala which constitutes a first on this occasion, are manifestations of the importance that Turkey attaches to the region. High-level visits from Turkey to the region will continue in the forthcoming period.