Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara will materialize its two agreements with the Libyan government on defense and maritime rights next year, a few days ahead of a parliament vote on deploying troops to the North African country.

Erdogan’s comment came on Tuesday, just a day after the Turkish government sent to parliament a bill authorizing troop deployment to Libya.

“The Memorandum of Understanding on Security and Military Cooperation and the Memorandum of Understanding on Delimitation of the Maritime Jurisdiction Areas between Turkey and Libya brought about gains of great strategic importance for our country,” the Turkish president said in his New Year message.

Ankara signed the security and military cooperation accords with Libya last month, angering a camp that has been laying claims to power in the country.