Hurriyet English with wires
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 28, 2008 16:40
Turkey wants to establish a win-win relationship with the African Union, the foreign minister said on Saturday. Ali Babacan added Africa was a continent with diverse cultures, languages, ethnic formations, a population of about one billion people and rich natural resources.
"Turkey approaches Africa with an understanding of partnership. We wish to establish relations with Africa based on a win-win model," Babacan said in his speech at the meeting of the African Union in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh.
Turkey has intensified its relations with Africa as well as Caribbean, Asia and other geographically remote regions of the world as a part of its efforts to be elected as a member of the UN Security Council for 2009-2010. The voting is expected to take place later this year.
"The African Union declared Turkey as a strategic partner in January. Turkey became a strategic partner of the African Union after China, India and Japan. Turkey became a member of the African Development Bank in May. Thus, Turkish entrepreneurs willing to do business in Africa would be able to make use of this bank," Babacan was quoted as saying by the Anatolian Agency.
"Turkey's political and economic reforms are being discussed deeply in Africa. As I mention Turkey's economic reforms, African ministers display a positive attitude towards Turkey. Turkey's foreign trade volume is almost equal to the total trade volume of the African continent," he added.
Babacan said that he invited the leaders of many countries to the Turkish-African summit that would take place in August in Turkey. "Turkey will host such a summit for the first time. The summit is a result of Turkey's becoming a strategic partner of Africa. Turkey's visibility in Africa is on the rise. The Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TIKA) has already opened three representations in Africa. There are many projects underway in Africa in which Turkey is involved in."
FIGHT AGAINST PKK
Babacan later answered the questions of journalists. He said "a high level strategic dialogue mechanism is being established with Iraq which will be co-chaired by the prime ministers of Turkey and Iraq," when asked about how Iraq views Turkey's fight against the terrorist organization PKK.
"The mechanism will help our commercial, political and energy related relations. The solution of problems in Iraq is dependent on the participation of all groups in the political mechanism of Iraq. We, as Turkey, are working to contribute to this process by holding meetings with all groups. Iraq's territorial integrity and political union carry
high importance," Babacan added.
He will depart from Egypt later on Saturday evening.
Photo: AA
