Turkey, African Union promise stronger ties at Istanbul conference

Turkey and African Union countries on Monday agreed to have “a streamlined and focused" partnership, a joint statement said.

The Turkey-Africa 2nd Ministerial Review Conference was held in Istanbul with 19 African countries in attendance.

In a statement – titled The Second Ministerial Review Conference of African Union-Turkey Partnership – the member states said they discussed “further steps in order to enhance the cooperation between the African Union and Turkey.”

The African Union also welcomed an increase in the diplomatic representation between the African countries and Turkey.

TRT World 's Adesewa Josh reports. 

Reaffirmation of stronger ties

Turkey currently has 41 embassies in African countries, up from only 12 in 2009. There are 33 African embassies in Ankara. Turkey aims to open embassies in all 54 African countries.

The importance of trade and investment between African countries and Turkey was also noted in the statement.

“We reiterated our desire to further strengthen economic and commercial relations through examining possibilities of removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade by way of potentially concluding Trade and Economic Partnership Agreements.”

The statement said the member states also agreed to organise biennially forums such as Turkey-ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Economic and Business Forum, which will be organised next week in Istanbul.