The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) and the U.N. pledged to "leave no one behind" thanks to the collaboration of all receptive countries as a considerable portion of the global human population is currently reeling from the effects of famine, poverty, terrorism and other deadly causes.The two parties underscored at the conclusion of the Global South-South Development Expo 2017 Leadership Roundtable, held in Turkey's southern Antalya province this year, that "a record 145 million people across the globe required humanitarian assistance and protection over the course of the past 11 months." The number marks an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Delivering a speech at the event, Mehmet Süreyya Er, vice president of TİKA, stressed that bridging the gap between emergency humanitarian aid and long-term development assistance is essential to help people survive disasters and get back on the path to recovery and resilience.

Pointing to Turkey's previous and ongoing projects and humanitarian aid works across the globe, Er said the Turkish aid model in Somalia is a perfect example. "Our engagement in Somalia started in 2011 when the country was stricken by a serious famine," Er said, adding: "In a relatively short span of time, several projects were put into action, which consisted of human and institutional capacity building, construction of essential infrastructure, and providing services such as education, sanitation and health while humanitarian aid continued."

The Rohingya tragedy currently crippling the lives of hundreds of thousands of people stuck between Bangladesh and Myanmar has also dominated the four-day-long event. The vice president of TİKA asserted that the Turkish agency was the first to respond in the world. "Since the violence began in the region last August, TİKA was the first foreign aid agency to enter the region. In a like manner, millions of people fled from Syria since the eruption of the crisis in 2011," Er said.

Emphasizing that Turkey is well aware of the tragedies and crises engulfing humankind, Er said: "Turkey has made enormous efforts in this regard. It has spent almost $30 billion on the refugee crisis in Syria since 2011."

The joint statement at the end of the events also praised Turkey's efforts across the globe. "Turkey hosts millions of displaced Syrian people and her intervention in Somalia saved millions from starvation and created hope for the future by providing fundamental means for resilience, and delivered timely food aid to Kirkuk in northern Iraq, Afghanistan and violence-affected Rohingya people in Bangladesh. Moreover, Turkey participates in long-term development works to ensure sustainability in the wider geography," the joint U.N. statement said.

The event, which kicked off Monday, also hosted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on the first day. "Turkey began providing development assistance to countries in the region in the 1920s," Çavuşoğlu said, adding that TİKA today can operate in more than 120 countries. "Turkey ranks second in the world for humanitarian aid with $6 billion of humanitarian and development aid," the foreign minister added.

"We are by far the leading country in the world [in the field of humanitarian aid] when compared to country's Gross Domestic Products (GDP). We are honored by this and we will increase human and development aid in the upcoming years. A humanitarian and initiative foreign policy is actually the essential principle of our foreign policy," Çavuşoğlu said.