Turkey and Ghana look to double trade volume

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official visit to Accra, Ghana on Tuesday as a part of his official visit to the West African countries of Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria. Erdoğan had individual and inter-delegation meetings with Ganaian President John Dramani Mahama and signed agreements for mutual protection of investments and collaboration in terms of youth and sports along with memorandums of understanding in the fields of information technologies and energy.

Recalling that Ghana and Turkey have signed 18 agreements and memorandums in five years, Erdoğan said: "I believe that the agreements and memorandums signed on the occasion of my visit will solidify our current collaboration."

He said: "Both Turkey and Ghana are determined to expand mutual cooperation. There is a very obvious political will between us to do that."

Citing that current total trade volume between Turkey and Ghana at $400 million, he said: "I believe that we will raise this amount to $1 billion by 2020. We are here with more than 150 firms. Our firms are determined to directly contribute to Ghana's efforts for economic development [in] energy, the infrastructure and housing construction in regard to Ghana's needs." Erdoğan said.

"Ghana is one of our best friends in West Africa. We have been recently making history with our bilateral relations. We see Ghana as our partner for development. Our targets cover areas including politics, military, economy, culture and trade," he said.

At a press conference, Mahama welcomed an invitation for Ghanaian Defense Ministry officials to visit Turkey."We all know Turkey has a very developed defense industry and we are willing to develop cooperation on that issue," he said.

In the area of education, Turkey has traditionally offered scholarships to Ghana, and under bilateral discussions, the number of scholarships will be raised to 35, he said. Mahama stressed that the new scholarships will especially target girls, particularly those who want to study science and technology.

Explaining that public-private partnerships played an important role in Turkey's development, Erdoğan suggested that this model could also be crucial for Ghana's development.

During his meetings with Mahama, Erdoğan indicated long-term business relations with Ghana would be established in the future, and addressed terrorism in Ghana and Nigeria as well as terrorism in Turkey. Erdoğan said: "As a country that has been fighting terrorism for 35 years, we know very well the targets and methods of the terrorist organizations. Our youth is our future. We have to condemn and come out against this terror with no religion, language and race. Turkey is with Ghana and [our] Ghanaian brothers and sisters."

Additionally, agreements for mutual protection of investments and collaboration in terms of youth and sports along with memorandums of understanding in the fields of information technologies and energy were signed.

At the end of his speech, praising Ghanaians' hospitality, affection, sincerity and their constant smiles, Erdoğan said: "Here today I witnessed some of these qualities. I sincerely express my gratitude to dear President Mahama and all the people of Ghana for the hospitality they have shown me and my committee."

Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Environment and Urbanization Minister Fatma Güldemet Sarı, National Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, Economy Minister Mustafa Elitaş, presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalı, and Ghanaian officials were also present at the signing ceremony.