Turkey forecasts ending 2021 with 9% growth, Erdoğan says

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Oct. 18 Turkey forecasts ending the year 2021 with a 9% economic growth.

"While most of the G20 countries threw in the towel in 2020 at the peak of the pandemic, we became the second-largest growing country among them by expanding 1.8%," he said, speaking at Turkey-Angola Business Forum.

"We have seen that this was not a coincidence at the first quarter of 2021 when we grew at 7.2%, and confirmed it with a 21.7% rate at the second quarter," he said.

Erdoğan said Turkey has become one of the world's three most successful countries in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), adding: "We are one of the 10 countries in the world that can design, build, and sustain its warships."

The president noted that Turkey has seven firms among the top 100 defense companies in the world, and said the country is planning to put its new submarines into service next year.

He also said Turkey is planning to put its first electric car on the roads at the end of 2022.

Erdoğan said Turkey's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines flies to 41 countries, and a total of 61 destinations in Africa, and noted that the company operated its first flight from Istanbul to Angola's capital Luanda on Oct. 13.

Turkey-Angola relations

Referring to Angola as the rising star of South Africa, Erdoğan emphasized increasing the business cooperation and bilateral relations between Turkey and Angola, especially in the infrastructure, textile, food, construction, energy, and mining fields.

"Until today, Turkish construction firms have completed five projects in Angola worth $809 million," Erdoğan said.

"It is very important for us that business people from Angola get to know Turkey and...