Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Muş affirmed that economic relations between his country and the African continent have witnessed great development since 2003.
During a speech at the Turkish-Nigerian Business Forum in the capital Abuja, Mosh indicated that the strategy of developing economic and trade relations with African countries in 2003 contributed greatly to the development of relations between Turkey and the countries of the continent.
He explained that the strategy contributed to raising the volume of trade between Turkey and Africa from 5.4 billion dollars in 2003 to 25.3 billion dollars in 2020.
He indicated that Turkish exports rose from two billion dollars to 15 billion dollars, and imports from the continent increased from 3 billion to 10 billion.
The volume of Turkish investments in the African continent after 10 years (since 2003) exceeded 6 billion dollars, while the projects implemented by Turkish construction companies amounted to 77 billion dollars, according to Mosh.
As for Turkish Airlines, it operates flights to 58 destinations on the continent, according to the Turkish minister.
It is noteworthy that Minister Mush accompanied Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his African tour, which started on Sunday and ended on Wednesday.
Erdogan's African tour included Togo, Angola and Nigeria.
strategic relationships
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Africans welcome the presence of Turks on their continent.
This came in response to journalists' questions on the plane while returning from his African tour.
Before his African tour, Erdogan described the relations between his country and African countries as strategic.
Erdogan said at the time: Turkey is emerging as a strategic partner for African countries with our trade volume exceeding $25 billion by the end of 2020.
According to Erdogan, Turkey seeks rapprochement with the countries of the African continent in all fields, in parallel with the expansion of the network of Turkish diplomatic representations on the continent.
Erdogan pointed out at the time that Istanbul will host the third Turkish-African Business Forum on October 21 and 22, and on December 17 and 18 the Turkish-African Joint Summit will be hosted.
Erdogan said at the time: I am confident that the role of the African continent will be prominent on the international scene in the twenty-first century, and that is why we want to move forward in our relations with it on the basis of mutual benefits and equal partnership.