The Vice President of the Agency in the Turkish Prime Ministry responsible for foreign scholarships, Mr. Mehmet Kose has promised to expand the number of Liberians to benefit from Turkish Government undergraduate, graduate and post graduate scholarships. 

According to a Foreign Ministry release, the expanded scholarship will focus on critical areas of need such as of medicine, engineering and geology, among others.

The disclosure was made during a meeting held between Liberia’s Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan and the Vice President of the Turkish Prime Ministry on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 as part of ongoing official visit the Liberian Foreign Minister is paying in Turkey.

In line Turkey’s commitment to expand its scholarship program, Mr. Kose informed Minister Ngafuan that a technical team from Turkey will be visiting Liberia at the end of May to interview applicants for scholarships to study in Turkish Universities.

The Turkish Agency has been running a scholarship program for Liberia for couple of years with 14 Liberians already studying at various universities in Turkey.

The Turkish Government has also agreed to a request by Foreign Minister Ngafuan to begin student and faculty exchange programs between Liberian and Turkish universities. The modalities leading to the start of the exchange programs will be sorted out shortly, a dispatch from Turkey says.

Meanwhile, the President of the Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TIKA) Dr. Serdar Cam has committed to expanding assistance to Liberia, especially in the area of vocational technical education. TIKA is the developmental arm of the Turkish government.

Accordingly, a team from TIKA will soon visit Liberia to assess the scope and scale of Turkish assistance in vocational and technical education.

TIKA President in a meeting with Foreign Minister Ngafuan held on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 announced that TIKA will shortly be making  several donations to Liberia including 135 wheelchairs for disabled Liberians through the Group of 77 as well as computers and IT equipment for the Government of Liberia for the use of government ministries and agencies.