The third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit will take place in Istanbul on 17-18 December.
The summit, which will be hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is expected to launch a new stage in Turkey’s relations with the African Union and African countries, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The date of the long-awaited event was announced by Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavusoglu during a visit to Turkey by Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, in late September.
Speaking at a news conference on 30 September, Çavusoglu said that Turkey’s approach to Africa is based on the principle of “African solutions to Africa’s problems”.
“We aim to support Africa’s development efforts and increase commercial, cultural and human relations between us,” he said, noting that Turkey had been a strategic partner of the African Union (AU) since 2008.
Referring to the growth in ties between Turkey and Africa over the last two decades, he also noted that the volume of bilateral trade between Turkey and Africa had risen to $25bn by the end of 2020 and that the number of Turkish embassies in Africa had risen from 12 in 2002 to a current figure of 43, with a mission soon to open in Guinea-Bissau.
Ankara’s presence has been growing rapidly on the continent under President Erdoğan.
What began with economic outreach has progressed into a complex Africa policy encompassing business, aid, diplomacy, culture and military support.
African.business
