DAKAR - Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TIKA) is extending assistance to Senegal through an office it inaugurated in 2007 in Senegal, one of the biggest countries in Western Africa.
"TIKA had earlier opened offices in countries with which Turkey has either blood ties or socio-cultural relations stemming from the Ottoman Empire," TIKA coordinator Mahmut Urhan said.
Urhan said however it was different in Senegal for this country had no information about Turks.
"After long studies, we have seen that we should intensify our efforts on health, agriculture, potable water and irrigation in Senegal," he told.
Urhan said Turkish Health Ministry and philantropic Turkish businessmen donated equipment and material assistance worth 20,000 USD to the department of the Dakar University dealing with children with mental disorder.
"We have asked a drilling machine from Turkey since there is no water in Senegal which receives rain three times a year. We may have the opportunity to drill water if this machine is sent," he told.
Urhan also said they have restored an elementary school in Dakar, provided computers, chairs, tables to state orphanages.
(BRC-MS)