Trade with Africa quadruples over 15 years, hits $20.6 billion

Turkey's trade with Africa over the last 15 years quadrupled and reached $20.6 billion amid the country's efforts to improve political and economic relations with the continent.

Implementation of the Strategy for Enhancing the Economic and Commercial Relations with Africa since 2003 has delivered some important concrete results. In accordance with this strategy, a number of high level meetings and programs were organized with African countries and progress has been observed in commercial and economic ties with the continent.

In 2003, Turkey's trade with the continent stood at $5.4 billion while this figure was recorded at $23.4 billion in 2014 and $16.7 billion in 2016 and $20.6 billion in 2017, recording a four-fold increase.

During the same period, Turkey's exports to the countries in Africa jumped to $11.7 billion from $2.1 billion and its imports from the continents rose to $8.9 billion from $3.3 billion.

The outcomes of Turkey's activities in the continents have been observed in the Turkish investments across the continents. Before the strategy was launched, Turkish companies were almost non-existent in Africa, but as of today, the amount of investments by Turkish firms reached $6.2 billion.Turkish companies operating in the various African countries created jobs for thousands of Africans and made a good impact on the balance of payments in these countries by importing goods.

Turkish contractors have also provided maximum support for the development processes of African countries. The value of 15 projects they were contracted was calculated at $769 million in 2002, but the figure has jumped to $64 billion in 2017.

The Turkish government also expanded the scope of incentives for business people who want to make investments in the city. In 2002, Turkey had only four offices of commercial counsellor, which rose to 26 last year.