Today, President Erdoğan is scheduled to visit Chad, which will be the first presidential-level visit to the country. Another business forum is expected to be held to discuss bilateral commercial and economic ties and explore investment opportunites.
Turkey's bilateral trade with Chad is relatively low. In 2016, the bilateral trade volume was slightly higher than $42 million in favor of Chad. In 2011, Turkey's exports to Chad increased, jumping from $5.8 million to $19 million in 2014. From 2015 to 2016, Turkish exports were $17 million to $18 million. Until 2015, bilateral trade favored Turkey, but for the last two years, imports from Chad outdid exports to the country.
In 2016, wheat flour was the most exported item to Chad, accounting for 70 percent of total exports to the country. Iron and steel products, yeast and pasta were other products Chad imported from Turkey.
The abundance of natural resources in Chad makes the country attractive for investment. In addition to sodium carbonate and kaolin resources, it also has uranium, bauxite, stannary, titanium and iron. The country exports oil to Atlantic coasts via a 1,074 kilometer pipeline to Cameroon.
Chad presents opportunities for Turkish investors in construction, agriculture, food processing and storage, animal products processing, textile, machinery and energy, Can Hakan Karaca, the chairman of the Turkey-Chad Business Council previously said. Karaca pointed out that the main problems for investors in Chad were inadequate energy and costly transportation infrastructure, weak institutions and corruption. He also said one of the main problems Turkish businesses faced in Chad was the lack of Turkish banks.
