Erdogan for increased Turkey-Africa trade cooperation

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey recently castigated the Western world for furthering its colonial agenda by using globalisation.

He said: "In the name of globalisation, one growth model has been dictated to different countries. If you want to grow your economy, you need to find the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank or an interest rate hike. You must obey the definition of democracy. In order to be part of the global system, you have to obey the current system unconditionally."

He noted that "The culture of our African brothers is not taken into consideration. The contemporary globalisation is a new form of colonialism and modern slavery".

President Erdogan said this on November 2, 2016, in Istanbul at the launch of the Turkey-Africa Economic and Business Forum, which highlighted Turkey's strategy to enhance bilateral trade with the African continent.

The forum, jointly organised by the Turkish Ministry of Economy, the African Union Commission, the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), aims to provide a platform for business circles of Turkey and African countries to create a long-lasting cooperation.

President Erdogan said, "We share a common fate. We consider the priority of the African continent as our priority. There is a nice African proverb that says one day's rain cannot get deep into the soil. We would like to remain friends forever".

To emphasise Turkish closeness to Africa, he said that Turkey was first in 2005, an observer country of the African Union then upgraded to a strategic partner in 2008 adding that Turkey was also in 2008 accepted as a non-regional member of the African Development Bank.

To further emphasise his countries readiness and strengthening the already existing cooperation, Erdogan said that Turkey would seek to increase its diplomatic representations on the continent from the current 39 saying: "We are going to establish an embassy in every country of the African continent.

Turkey's foreign direct investment in the continent has reached $3.9b. The trade volume between Turkey and the continent increased to $17.5b in 2015 from $7b in 2005."

He said that Turkish investors have shown interest in the continent in recent years.
To appear closer to Africa, Erdogan used an African proverb to drive his point saying that: "If you want to go fast, you go alone but, if you want to go far, we will go together, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder and side by side".

About 110 Ugandans attended the forum. Seventy (70) of these were from the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI), an umbrella organisation for trade and business community in Uganda. They were led by James Lalobo, the UNCCI director from Amurata.

The Uganda Government was represented by the State Minister for Trade Werikhe Kafabusa and Ronald Kibuule, the State minister for Water Resources.

Werikhe said that Turkey had put aside $350m for Turkish investors ready to invest in Uganda. He said these Turkish investors are ready to invest in the sectors such as infrastructure, energy, food production and processing, training in technological transfer, cotton productions and textiles manufacture, value addition and tourism.

He, therefore, called on Ugandans to take advantage of the willingness of Turkey to extend business opportunities to Uganda's traders and investors. He cited example of the Exim Bank of Turkey that is willing to lend at 2% interest rate.

President Erdogan, on the other hand used the opportunity to call for Africa's support in fighting terrorism. He stressed role of terrorism in damaging economic growth.

He said "The international fight against terrorism needs international solidarity, otherwise we will fail".

He said that during the July 15 coup attempt, 246 people were martyred and 2,194 others injured.