Turkey and Sudan have signed a $100 million oil exploration deal and an agreement allocating thousands of square miles of Sudanese agricultural land for investment by Turkish companies, Turkeys agriculture and forestry ministry said on Tuesday. The Turkish ministry said Sudan had designated 780,500 hectares (3,000 square miles) of land for investment by private Turkish companies, saying it would "provide security of food supply for Turkey, Sudan and third countries". The Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) and Sudans Ministry of Petroleum and Gas also signed an oil field development agreement, which would initially lead to an investment of up to $100 million, Turkeys Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said in a statement. The ministry gave no details about the nature or location of the investment, but Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Pakdemirli as saying it was an exploration agreement. The deals were signed during a two-day visit by a Turkish delegation, led by Pakdemirli, to Khartoum. Turkeys Ziraat Participation Bank will also open a branch in Khartoum to strengthen financial ties, and customs procedures for machines and equipment imported from Turkey to Sudan will be eased, the agriculture ministry said. The two countries have strengthened ties and agreed in December, when Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the first visit to Khartoum by a Turkish president, to gradually increase trade to $10 billion a year.