By Orhan Coskun

ANKARA (Reuters -Today, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates agreed to billions of dollars in investment, including in energy and technology. This was after negotiations between President Tayyip Turkey, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed al Nahyan and Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Ankara’s Sheikh Mohammed is making his first trip to Ankara for many years as they try to repair strained ties. This also comes amid the currency crisis in Turkey.

Memorandums were also signed by the Turkish Presidency Investment Office (TVF), Abu Dhabi Development Holding, and Turkish Wealth Fund (TVF).

These agreements show the country’s pivot to partnership following a struggle for regional influence that began a decade ago with the Arab uprisings. Before Ankara’s regional charm offensive in last year, the disputes reached as far as the Gulf and eastern Mediterranean.

Erdogan said Sheikh Mohammed had held “fruitful” discussions with him about strengthening bilateral ties.

On Twitter, he stated that “I look forwards to exploring new collaboration opportunities to benefit our countries and advance our mutual developments goals.”

ADQ and Abu Dhabi Ports reached an agreement on the investment in Turkish technology companies and the establishment of a fund that is technology-oriented.

According to a Turkish official, the deals included an agreement between ADQ Turkey and Kalyon Turkey on infrastructure and energy, another one with CCN Group for health cooperation and a third deal with Turkey’s Presidency Investment Office regarding renewable energy.

$10 BILLION FUND

“Problems we had with the UAE are behind us. Another official who was familiar with the preparations for Wednesday’s visit said that they are moving into a period of cooperation and mutual advantage.

State news agency WAM reported that the UAE had announced a $10-billion fund for supporting strategic investments in Turkey. It included investment in health, energy, and other fields.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying that he will visit Abu Dhabi next December. He also stated that talks between the two countries were “very constructive”.

On Wednesday, the cooperation agreement was also signed by Emirati and Turkish central banks. Sources said earlier that the two central banks were in discussions about a swap arrangement.

Turkey’s central banks have sought to make swap arrangements with countries other than Turkey in order to obtain hard currency. This has helped build reserves and sustain the lira which is currently down as high as 45%.

The country has reached swap agreements totaling $6 billion, $15 billion, and $2 billion, respectively, with China, Qatar, and South Korea. This brings the total to $23 billion.

Turkey indicated in September that it is in negotiations with the UAE for investments in power generation and energy. Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund, the UAE, made substantial investments in Turkish online grocery store Getir as well as e-commerce site Trendyol. The UAE has stated that it is interested in deeper economic relations with Ankara.

Turkey is at war with many regional powers and its Western allies on various issues. It has initiated similar normalization efforts with Egypt and Saudi Arabia. However, these channels have not yielded much public improvement.