2 yıl önce

Erdogan's Africa visit will set stage to boost trade, investments

The visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will focus on all aspects of bilateral relations and opportunities for improving cooperation between Türkiye and these countries in several fields.

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The value of Türkiye's investments across Africa has surpassed $6 billion.

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has started his mini-tour of Central and West Africa, which is expected to create new opportunities to boost bilateral trade and benefit Turkish businesspeople to expand their investments in the region.

On his four day-tour starting from Sunday, Erdogan will be visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau.

The visit will focus on all aspects of bilateral relations and opportunities for improving cooperation between Türkiye and these countries in all fields.

During his visit to Senegal’s capital Dakar, Erdogan will attend the opening ceremony of the Dakar Olympic Stadium built by a Turkish company.

He will also open the new embassy building in the capital.

Erdogan's visit to Guinea-Bissau will mark the first presidential-level official visit from Türkiye to the West African country.

'Strategic Africa' policy

As ties between Türkiye and Africa have gained new momentum thanks to the country's policy of "Strategic Africa," as of last year Turkish companies had undertaken more than 1,150 projects across the continent with a total value exceeding nearly $70 billion.

The value of Türkiye's investments across Africa surpassed $6 billion.

In 2021, Türkiye's foreign trade volume with Sub-Saharan Africa jumped 24.8 percent year-on-year to hit a record high of $10.7 billion.

Turkish exports to countries in the region soared 31 percent to $7.9 billion in the same period, while its imports were up 10 percent to $2.8 billion.

Untapped markets

Yusuf Cenk Dagsuyu, head of the Foreign Economic Relations Board’s (DEIK) Türkiye-Democratic Republic of Congo Business Council, said: "The country's markets are untapped. With a win-win policy, the bilateral trade volume will reach significant levels."

Dagsuyu said Turkish exports to DRC nearly doubled over the last five years thank to rises in sales of flour and flour products, meat and meat products, and machinery.

"Especially new developments in the mining and energy sectors are very important for the future," he said.

"We aim to raise the export volume above $100 million in 2022."

Fuat Tosyali, head of the board’s Turkiye-Senegal Business Council, said: "We hope that concrete results will be achieved through President Erdogan's visit. Such visits always create a positive climate for business circles."

Senegal’s economy is dependent on agriculture, Tosyali stressed, explaining that the sector currently employs 70 percent of the total workforce.

"It has large enough offshore oil and gas resources to make itself a global hydrocarbon player. In this context, relations between the two countries are in a development process in every sense," he added.