PRETORIA, South Africa

Turkey and the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) have discussed ways to strengthen their bilateral relations, a top Turkish diplomat told Anadolu Agency Saturday.

A Turkish delegation led by Turkey’s ambassador to South Africa Elif Comoglu Ulgen met with King Mswati III on Friday in the Kingdom's capital Mbabane.

"We mostly discussed about intensifying our trade relations, encouraging tourism and also sponsoring more students from Eswatini to study in Turkey on the government scholarship program," Ulgen, who is also accredited to Lesotho and Eswatini, said.

She said there is already a sizeable number of Eswatini students studying in Turkey on government scholarship.

“There are also over 100 students from Eswatini currently studying at universities in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” she added.

The Turkish delegation which included members of the Turkish Embassy in Pretoria also met with the new Cabinet of Eswatini and King Mswati’s eldest son Prince Lindani Dlamin.

The prince hosted the Turkish delegation on a working dinner on Thursday where they had the opportunity to extensively exchange views on how they can further develop political, economic and cultural relations.

"We also spoke about an eventual visit of his majesty King Mswati to Turkey hopefully before the end of the year," Ulgen said adding, they were also in their final stages of opening an embassy in Eswatini.