President Erdoğan: We work to advance our cooperation with Africa on equal partnership and win-win basis
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered the opening speech of the 3rd Türkiye-Africa Partnership Summit held at Istanbul Congress Center.
Prior to the Summit, held with the theme of “Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity”, President Erdoğan welcomed one by one all the visiting heads of state and government. Following the welcoming, the leaders posed for a family photo.
“WE REJECT CONTEMPTUOUS PERSPECTIVES TOWARDS AFRICA”
Voicing his pleasure over hosting the participating heads of state and government in Istanbul, President Erdoğan recalled that Türkiye had turned a new page in its relations with the continent by having declared 2005 as Africa Year, and noted: “While we have embraced each other once again with our African brothers and sisters, we have worked to advance our cooperation on ‘equal partnership and win-win’ basis. We have always rejected contemptuous, peremptory and excessively orientalist perspectives towards the continent. We have given our cooperation, which has gained momentum with the Africa initiative, a holistic structure by having become a strategic partner of the African Union in 2008.”
“WE WILL INCREASE OUR BILATERAL TRADE VOLUME TO $50 BILLION AT THE FIRST STAGE”
Underscoring that Türkiye closely followed the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, which had taken effect on January 1, 2021, President Erdoğan said: “I am of the belief that we will increase our bilateral trade volume to $50 billion through our joint efforts at the first stage, and then to $75 billion. The progress made over the past 16 years clearly shows that the true potential between Türkiye and Africa is way beyond these goals. In addition to trade and investments, cooperation in other areas has been enhanced as well. The number of the Turkish embassies in Africa, which was 12 in 2005, has been increased to 42. In 2000’s there were only 10 embassies of African countries in Ankara, a number which has now risen to 37.”
“WE HAVE NOT ABANDONED OUR AFRICAN FRIENDS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC”
Drawing attention to the COVID-19 pandemic, President Erdoğan said: “We have not abandoned our African friends during the coronavirus pandemic, which has thus far claimed the lives of nearly 5.5 million people across the world. We have provided contributions to 12 international organizations and 160 states, including 44 African countries. We are aware of the global injustice in access to COVID-19 vaccines and the grievances suffered by Africa. It is a shame for humanity that only 6 percent of the African population has been vaccinated. In order to contribute to the solution of this problem, we are planning to share 15 million doses of vaccine to the extent our means and resources permit in the period ahead. We have applied for the emergency use of our domestic vaccine TURKOVAC a short while ago. Once the process has been completed, we will put our vaccine at the disposal of the whole humanity along with our nation and our African brothers and sisters.”
“IT IS A GRAVE INJUSTICE THAT AFRICA DOES NOT HAVE A SAY AT UNSC”
President Erdoğan went on to say: “We maintain the struggle we are putting up under the banner of, ‘The World is Bigger than 5,’ not just for ourselves but also for our African brothers and sisters. The incidents we have gone through over the past few years have laid bare the wrongfulness of abandoning the fate of the entire humanity to the mercy of the 5 UNSC members. It is a grave injustice that Africa, which has a population of 1.3 billion, does not have a say or vote at the Security Council. I believe that we should join forces in order for Africa to be duly represented at the Security Council.”
