Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit set to begin

The final preparations are being made for the second Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, which will run from Nov. 19-21 in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.

Around 200 business leaders and a delegation led by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will attend the summit. Leaders from many countries in Africa have also been invited.

The Joint Declaration and Action Plan for the Turkish-African partnership from 2015 to 2018 is expected to be approved at the gathering. The plan includes actions in many sectors, including industry, education, health, trade, energy, investment, and peace and security.

The African Union declared Turkey a strategic partner in 2008, and a Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit was held the same year in Istanbul.

The trade volume between Turkey and Sub-Saharan countries has increased more than tenfold over the past 13 years, reaching $7.5 billion in 2013, up from $742 million in 2000, according to data from the Foreign Ministry.