President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his counterpart Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Monday decided to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Türkiye and Guinea-Bissau in the fields of commerce, defense and the economy.

Erdoğan and Embalo discussed steps to improve Türkiye-Guinea-Bissau ties and regional issues in a phone call, the Turkish Presidency's Directorate of Communications said in a statement.

During the phone call, Erdoğan expressed his pleasure over Guinea-Bissau's allocation of land in the country for Türkiye's Maarif Foundation to build a school.

Erdoğan also welcomed the efforts of Embalo, the term president of the Economic Community of West African Countries, in establishing stability and peace in the region.

In February, Erdoğan was in Senegal for the second stop of his four-day official visit to Africa, also including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea-Bissau. He later had to cancel his trip to Guinea Bissau to attend an emergency NATO meeting to discuss Ukraine-Russia tensions.

Türkiye is seeking to strengthen its presence in Africa. Since 2003, the volume of its trade with the continent has increased from $2 billion to at least $25 billion.

Erdoğan has visited Africa nearly 40 times since 2005, as prime minister and president. During that time, Türkiye opened 40 embassies on the continent.