Turkish FM meets African ambassadors

By Tugcenur Yilmaz

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish foreign minister on Friday held a meeting with African ambassadors in Ankara to discuss development of Turkey-Africa relations, according to diplomatic sources.

During the meeting, Mevlut Cavusoglu also discussed the third Turkey-Africa Summit with the ambassadors and steps to further develop relations, said the source speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

At the meeting, the African ambassadors said that they are pleased with Turkey’s interest in the continent, sharing their recommendations for Turkey’s Africa partnership policy, the source added.

- Turkey-Africa relations

In recent years Turkey successfully fulfilled its Opening Policy to Africa in which it improved and further developed its relations with the continent. Rapid process has been also made in several areas such as trade volume, political dialogue mechanisms, educational activities and economic investments.

Carried out in 2008 and 2014, the Turkey-Africa summits contributed to the developed relations.

In the future, the number of Turkish embassies in Africa is expected to be increased to 50, while the number of African embassies in Ankara rose from 10 to 35 so far.

The trade with the continent increased from $3.68 billion in 2003 to $20 billion in 2018, a concrete indicator of progress in Turkey-Africa relations.