THROUGH the Commission on Higher Education, the country has strengthened its bilateral relationship with Turkey in promoting the internationalization of higher education institutions.

“There is a special interest to pursue academic collaboration with universities of Turkey, which is among the leading Muslim countries in the world,” CHEd chair Prospero de Vera III said in his speech during the 9th Annual Eurasia Higher Education Summit in Istanbul, Turkey.

According to De Vera, the government of Turkey played a key role in the peace process in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao of the southern island of Mindanao.

“It is only fitting that the Philippines and Turkey move on to sustain bilateral partnerships covering areas of mutual interest to both countries,” De Vera said.

“Collaboration between institutions from different countries of different cultures cannot be overemphasized as the value of the materialized cooperative programs outweighs the time invested in developing a mutually beneficial agreement,” De Vera added.

He said this summit is more than a good opportunity to engage educational institutions in Turkey and other parts of the world with the great potential of the Eurasian region.

“So we welcome this opportunity now through the Eurie summit to further explore opportunities in line with the instruction of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to continuously improve our HEIs in agriculture, medicine, and health allied sciences and science and technology,” De Vera added.