Türkiye, Ghana agree to continue political consultations

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - The foreign ministers of Türkiye and Ghana agreed on Wednesday to continue political consultations between the two countries.

"Today, as (Ghanian Foreign Minister) Shirley (Botchwey) also mentioned we had very productive meetings," Türkiye's Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a joint press conference in Ghana's capital Accra.

Cavusoglu said the two officials reviewed "opportunities to expand our bilateral and multilateral cooperation," and agreed to "continue political consultations regularly."

He said they should set a date for the second round of consultations "as soon as possible."

Türkiye's trade with the West African nation continues to develop, said Cavusoglu, with their bilateral trade volume at around $560 million.

"We aim to increase it to $1 billion in the short term. I think we have the potential," he said, pointing to the need to "strengthen the foundations of our economic and trade relations" to achieve this goal.

During Cavusoglu's visit, the two countries also "agreed to finalize important economic agreements on avoidance of double taxation, promotion of investment, and establishment of joint economic and trade coalition," he said.

Highlighting that Turkish companies were already active in Ghana, Cavusoglu said they had "agreed to actually encourage Turkish companies to increase their investment here jointly."

Education is another area of cooperation between them, said the Turkish foreign minister, adding that Türkiye's Maarif Foundation, contributed to relations in that field.

Türkiye is "increasing the number of scholarships that we are providing for students" in Ghana, he said.

Turkish and Ghanaian officials also addressed how to strengthen cooperation in the military and defense industry, according to Cavusoglu.

"We are ready to share our expertise with Ghana on the fight against terrorism and border security," he said, noting that Ankara shares the concerns of the African countries and is readiness to provide support to countries there.

On Ghana's current position as a member of the UN Security Council, Cavusoglu hailed its "very active role" and said: "We appreciate your valuable contributions to preserving global peace and stability, and making African people's voice even stronger."

"We are ready to cooperate with Ghana during its term. And we also discussed the regional issues, the counter-terrorism efforts and the recent developments in Ukraine."