As Turkey marks the annual Africa Day, I take the opportunity to celebrate
Africa's achievements and rejoice in our developing partnership. Africa's
ascendancy makes all Turks proud and motivates us to engage in closer ties
and cooperation. Political institutions around Africa are evolving even as
we witness the emergence of a strong middle class in many African
countries.
The continent has the aspiration to take strides across all Sustainable
Development Goals. Africa's aspirations include not only eliminating
absolute poverty, but also reducing inequality, offering a wealth of
valuable education opportunities to all and reinforcing good governance as
the norm. Africa operates increasingly as a cohesive unit. The Continental
Free Trade Area Agreement has been a critical milestone that will shape the
future of Africa.
We have every reason to be proud a partner of the African nations. Turkey's
engagement is based on building lasting relationships. Our principal
purpose is to establish deep-rooted cooperation with our African
counterparts in a manner that is sustainable and mutually productive. I
have been encouraged to hear in so many instances that Turkey's good will
and determined outreach resonates with our African partners. Africa
considers Turkey a vigorous partner in its progress toward comprehensive
and sustainable development and its consequent influence in global affairs.
Our interest to Africa is concretized by intensified political contacts at
the highest level. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has paid official visits
to 26 African countries since his Prime Ministry term. These visits opened
new venues of cooperation. The multitude of agreements signed show that
Turkey is committed to opening new areas of collaboration with African
countries.Turkey's outreach toward Africa has been built on visible,
tangible and mutually beneficial foundations. Turkey is now represented on
the continent with 41 embassies with the latest openings in Sierra Leone
and the Equatorial Guinea. We will raise this number to 50 in the medium
term with the ultimate target of being represented in every African
country.
The year 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of our strategic partnership with
the African Union (AU). Recently, I had the pleasure of hosting high-level
AU officials and African foreign ministers in Istanbul as part of a
ministerial conference that reviewed our institutional cooperation. We set
new targets for a more productive relationship. As a first step, we will
organize the Second Turkey-Africa Business Forum this October in Istanbul.
Next year we will also hold the Third Turkey-Africa Summit. We attach great
importance to this Summit and will work to guarantee its success.
Trade with the African continent now exceeds $20 billion U.S. dollars. This
represents nearly a five-fold increase compared to 2003. It also shows that
both Africa and Turkey are benefiting from an equitable trade relationship.
We recognize the important role played by the Regional Economic Communities
in the future of Africa. In that sense, last February we organized the
first Turkey-Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Economic
and Business Forum with the aim of deepening the economic partnership
between Turkey and ECOWAS members.
I am particularly proud to underline that our national airline carrier
Turkish Airlines (THY) continues to extend its presence on the continent by
adding new destinations to its flight network. THY is currently flying to
52 destinations in 34 countries in Africa. The latest addition to THY's
network was Freetown in Sierra Leone. Flights to the Comoros Islands will
also be starting this June. Our national carrier is helping Africans to
travel to Turkey and to the rest of the world.
Turkey is actively contributing to peace and security on the continent. We
are also assisting efforts to combat terrorism in the Sahel. At the recent
Brussels Conference, Turkey pledged $5 million to support the regional G5
Sahel security force. Humanitarian and development partnerships have been
strong elements of Turkey's overall outreach to the continent. Many
ministries, agencies and nongovernmental organizations in Turkey take part
in this combined effort. Our benchmark for success is responding to meeting
local needs in a speedy manner. From 2004 until 2016, the Turkish
Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) spent $1.43 billion to support
sustainable development efforts in the continent.
I would like to underline again that we highly appreciate that many African
countries have taken swift action against various organizations affiliated
with the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which attempted a bloody coup in
Turkey.
The Maarif Foundation, a government run agency, has begun to operate
schools in Africa. Our goal is to provide solid support to the efforts of
the African governments to provide affordable and quality education all
over the continent. I am confident that students receiving an education in
the Maarif schools will be eminently prepared to meet the challenges of
tomorrow. Providing higher education opportunities to qualified African
students in Turkey through scholarships is also a promising leg of our
cooperation. Each year over 1,000 students from Africa come to Turkey to
receive their higher education through Turkish government scholarship
programs. Their presence is welcome and we will to continue to be a center
of excellence for African students.
Our approach to Africa is based on transparent, long-term and strategic
partnership. We are confident that this partnership promises a bright
future to Turkey and to our partners in Africa.
As I mark Africa Day with joy, I underline Turkey's commitment to our
partnership with Africa based on the principles of equality, partnership,
solidarity, sustainability and mutual respect.