Turkish president attends meeting on African development

Gul said Africa's fate shaped the common fate of the globe, adding that needs of African development could be remedied. He said steps taken by African countries to this end should be encouraged with a global initiative.

Developmental aid, debt relief, foreign investment, and peace and security building measures were some of the steps that could be taken to help African development, he said.

Gul said "health, education, agriculture, environment, infrastructure, and capacity building" were the key areas where Africa needed help the most, adding Turkey enhanced its relations with African countries on these high priority areas.

He underlined the growing trade volume between Turkey and Africa saying that it rose to double digit figures since 2004 and exceeded $12 billion in 2007. He said their target was to boost these figures up to $30 billion by the end of the decade.

He said Turkey carried out humanitarian and development aid projects in 37 African countries through its regional offices situated in Addis Ababa, Khartoum and Dakar.

Gul announced Turkey's decision to open 15 new embassies in Africa and increase its current number of embassies to 37.

He said the African Union declared Turkey as one of its three strategic partners noting that this intensified Turkey's willingness to enhance relations.

Gul said Turkey and its African partners agreed on a renewed road map, referring to the Turkey-Africa cooperation summit hosted by Turkey in Istanbul last month, with the participation of 50 African countries.