Free trade area on African continent to create significant opportunities for trade, investments, President Erdogan says
Turkish companies have undertaken critical infrastructure projects from energy to food and agriculture in Africa, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
Speaking at the 4th Türkiye-Africa Business and Economic Forum, jointly organized by Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), the Turkish Trade Ministry and the African Union in Istanbul, Erdogan said the Turkish business people’s direct investments in Africa have exceeded $10 billion.
Recalling that Türkiye announced its Africa Strategy in 2003 and declared 2005 as the “Africa Year,”he said that Türkiye established its cooperation with Africa on a win-win basis.
Stressing that Türkiye views Africa’s success as its own success, he said: “We fully supported the African Union’s G20 membership since the very beginning. Accordingly, we welcomed the African Union’s admission as a member during the recent G20 Summit in New Delhi.
In 2021, Türkiye became a strategic partner of the African Union, he recalled and said that the country’s bilateral trade with the continent reached almost $41 billion last year.
“We believe that the free trade area on the African continent will create significant opportunities for trade and investments in the coming period,” Erdogan said.
Strategic partnership
Azali Assoumani, the head of the African Union and president of the Union of the Comoros, said that participants handled important issues at the forum, including energy, agriculture, health, food, tourism, and digital marketing.
Türkiye’s Africa Strategy became a strategic partnership between Türkiye and Africa, he said.
Noting that relations between Türkiye and Africa have been improving for the last two decades, he said that parties should focus on increasing trade and investments at this point.
Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said that the forum provides an important opportunity to address the agenda issues of economic and trade relations between Türkiye and African countries and to identify new areas of cooperation.
Bolat said: “In the last 20 years, we have made many visits to Africa, we have hosted many of our African friends in our country and we have carried our existing relations further and deepened them day by day.”
The forum is establishing a strong bridge between Türkiye and Africa, said Albert Muchanga, the commissioner for trade and industry of the African Union Commission.
Amany Asfour, head of the Africa Business Council, said at the event that there is cooperation between Türkiye and Africa and that the continent wants this cooperation to be seen in various investments in the continent.
Africa has a huge investment potential for the private sector as the African private sector is proud to see that this partnership will lead to tourism growth and empowerment of small and medium enterprises, she added.
Nail Olpak, head of DEIK, noted that the event hosted a foreign president, 24 ministers and deputy ministers from Africa, the commissioner of the African Union, 32 ambassadors, and hundreds of business people from Türkiye and Africa.
The two-day event, which started on Thursday, featured panels, press meetings and B2B gatherings.