Rwandan media: Turkey seeks deep economic, military ties with Africa

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda flew to Instabul Turkey to join other heads of state from 16 African nations for the Third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit convened Saturday at the Istanbul Congress Center.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks at the summit that Turkey is aiming to deepen economic and military ties with Africa.

“This summit is a testament to the fact that Turkey is interested in Africa and Turkey’s interest in Africa is not a temporary interest, it is a maintained commitment. Our African brothers and sisters are showing they are interested in better cooperation with Turkey,” President Erdogan said.

On the security front, President Erdogan noted, “We understand security challenges like those from Daesh, Boko Haram, and al-Shabab are not for a few countries only, but a shared challenge.”

According to Erdogan, Turkey has advanced technology when it comes to the defence industry, and Turkey has great experience when it comes to counter-terror operations.

“We are ready to offer this prowess to our African brothers and sisters,” he said.

In his remarks to the summit, President Kagame noted “Our cooperation, mainly in the areas of trade, transportation, health, and education has created a solid base to further strengthen our ties. The increased investments in Africa and in Rwanda by Turkish companies exemplify all this.”

“In a short period of time, diplomatic and partnership relations between Africa, Rwanda and Turkey have grown rapidly and strongly,” said President Kagame.

Bilateral trade between Turkey and African nations has also dramatically increased in recent years.

In the first 11 months of 2021, bilateral trade had reached $30bn, Erdogan said on Saturday, and Turkey planned to increase this to more than $50bn in coming years.

Erdogan added that some 25,000 Africans were employed in the continent by Turkish companies, in projects worth $78bn, and more than 14,000 African students had studied in Turkey.

The enhanced economic cooperation between Turkey and African nations was being driven partly by Turkey’s own desire to diversify its trade partners, said Ismail Numan Telci, deputy director at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Ankara.

“Rather than limiting itself with the immediate neighbours, Turkey has been reaching out to wider regions including Africa to diversify its strategic engagements. In this regard, Ankara has considered African countries to be equal partners in its foreign policy objectives as well as economic goals,” said Telci.

African leaders, meanwhile, were increasingly seeking to find development partners that are outside of historical European centres of power with colonial histories in the continent.

This 3rd Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit began Thursday with a meeting of high-level government officials in Istanbul. The summit also attracted more than 102 ministers and representatives of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States.

Source: Taarif (Rwanda)