Third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit delivers ‘win-win’ agreements

Published:December 21,2021

The third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit under the theme “Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity” convened in Istanbul.

The two-day summit, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, marks a new stage in Turkey’s relations with the African Union and African countries, according to Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

“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 Erdoğan told the assembled heads of state on the second day of the summit.

Some 16 African heads of state attended the summit, including Félix Tshisekedi, current chair of the African Union, Senegal’s Macky Sall, Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo, representing Ecowas, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa and Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria.

They were accompanied by 102 ministers, including 26 foreign ministers, from 39 countries.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, Albert Muchanga, AU commissioner for economic development, trade, industry and mining (ETIM) and Josefa Leonel Correia, commissioner for agriculture, rural development, blue economy and sustainable environment (ARBE) and other high officials from AU member states were also in attendance.

The Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. (Photo: Gelia / Shutterstock)

Summit agenda

The two-day summit agenda reviewed cooperation between Turkey and African countries since the second summit in 2014 (see below) and drew up a framework for the partnership process going forward.

A parallel session on health took place on the margins of the summit on 17 December under the theme “Mobilising Potentials for African Health Needs in the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Era” with ministers of health and heads of delegation from Africa and Turkish minister of health Fahrettin Koca in attendance.

“As the theme of this event is ‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity’, we want to march down this path of development with our African friends and take our cooperation into the future. Our aim is to win with Africa and walk to the future together,” Çavusoglu told delegates on the first day of the summit.

He also announced that Turkey would deliver 2.5m doses of Covid vaccine to Africa in the coming days.

On the second day of the summit, President Erdoğan announced that Turkey would be sharing 15m doses of the vaccine with African countries in the next few months, adding that it was “a disgrace for humanity” that only 6% of Africa’s population had been vaccinated so far, reports Al Jazeera.

The summit also included sessions on agriculture, development and the defence industry.

The summit provided guidelines for Turkish cooperation with Africa for the next five years, with projects that will directly involve the private sector being decided.

The “Turkey-Africa Partnership Joint Action Plan 2021-2026″ contains concrete actions to be implemented jointly by Turkey, the AU and its Member States. It covers the following areas:

• Peace, security and governance;
• Trade, investment and industry;
• Education, STI skills, youth and women’s development;
• Infrastructure development and agriculture; and
• Promoting resilient health systems.

According to Anadolu Agency, the final declaration said the parties committed to further strengthen and deepen the cooperation in the interest of the states and peoples and the next summit will convene in Africa in 2026.

It also reported that a memorandum of understanding on cooperation was also signed between Turkey and the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

In the closing ceremony, President Erdoğan said, “We want to develop together and increase the welfare of our people together, thus, we attach great importance to the memorandum of understanding.”

President Tshisekedi said Turkey had paved the way for a historic summit and hailed Turkey’s win-win approach towards Africa.

Growth of Turkey’s footprint in Africa

Ankara’s presence has grown rapidly on the continent under President Erdoğan, who has visited more African countries than any other African leader.

The volume of bilateral trade between Turkey and Africa rose from $5.4bn in 2003 to $25.3bn in 2020.

Over the same period, Turkish foreign direct investment in the continent grew from $100m to $6.5bn, and Turkish companies have become increasingly present across Africa.

The main sectors for Turksih trade and investment are construction, steel and cement, followed by textiles, household goods and electronic devices.

South Africa is Turkey’s largest trading partner on the continent, with bilateral trade of $1.3bn in 2019, but Ethiopia, where Turkish firms have more than 20,000 employees, has drawn nearly a third of Turkey’s investment in sub-Saharan Africa.

What began with economic outreach has progressed into a complex Africa policy encompassing business, aid, diplomacy, culture and military support.

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