Ankara is ready for dialogue and cooperation with African countries based on the principles of mutual respect and benefits. ” This was stated by the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the opening of the III of the Summit of Partnership “Turkey-Africa” in Istanbul, reports Anadolu.
According to the Turkish leader, the African continent is one of the priority directions of Ankara’s foreign policy.
“Our country has never turned away from Africa and African peoples,” Erdogan emphasized.
President Erdogan called the unfair fact that the African continent with a population of 1.3 billion people cannot influence the UN Security Council and reminded Turkey’s calls to reform the UN Security Council.
“The struggle that Ankara under the slogan” The World is more than five permanent members of the UN Security Council, “is responsible for the interests of not only Turkey, but also countries in Africa. We need to combine our efforts to ensure that Africa can be properly represented in UN Security Council. “,” said the head of the Turkish state.
He also emphasized the readiness of Turkey to the deposit to eliminate security challenges on the African continent.
“Turkey itself has been fighting terrorism for about 40 years and therefore no one is aware of the security challenges faced by some African countries,” said Erdogan.
According to the Turkish leader, the volume of Turkish investments in Africa reached $ 6 billion.
“Turkish entrepreneurs today provide the work of more than 25 thousand inhabitants of African countries, and Turkish contractors implemented 1686 projects on the continent for a total of $ 78 billion,” said the President of the country, adding that Ankara is aimed at the emergence of turnover with African Countries from $ 25.3 billion in 2020 to $ 50 billion.
“I think that this indicator will not reflect our potential, and we can already speak of a new goal of $ 75 billion a year. A positive trend is evident. According to the results of the first 11 months of this year, the volume of trade has exceeded $ 30 billion . As a result of the joint efforts of Turkey and the African continent, the level of ties was led to the level of which we could not dream 16 years ago, “said Erdogan.
Note that the three-day summit on the “Extended Partnership in the Name of Joint Development and prosperity” takes place in the Istanbul Congress Center with the participation of 16 heads of states and 102 ministers from various African states. Following the summit, the Istanbul Declaration will be adopted.