President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will leave on Sunday for a four-day diplomatic tour to three African countries as part of the country's African policy to contribute to the economic and social development of the continent with peace and stability, as well as to develop bilateral relations on the basis of equal partnership and mutual benefit.

The president has officially visited 28 African countries to date, and will now tour Angola, Nigeria and Togo.

The trip is significant as Turkey is hosting two important events in Istanbul: a two-day Turkey-Africa 3rd Economy and Business Summit on Oct. 21, and a two-day Turkey-Africa 3rd Partnership Summit on Dec. 17.

Turkey's African policy, which encompasses political, humanitarian, economic and cultural spheres, is part of its multidimensional foreign policy.

To this effect, the number of Turkish embassies in Africa has increased from just 12 in 2002 to 43 in 2021.

Turkey's trade with Africa climbed to $25.3 billion by 2020 from just $5.4 billion at the end of 2003, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

According to sources, Erdoğan is expected to meet his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco as well as attend a forum with businesspeople from both countries.

Erdoğan hosted Lourenco in July, and the two leaders inked agreements of cooperation on air transport, mutual promotion of investments, hydrocarbons and mining, renewable energy and visa exemptions.

Sources said Erdoğan will also meet Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and attend the Turkey-Nigeria Business Forum on his second visit to the West African country.

Steps will be taken to harness the true potential of the two countries' relations during the talks, which will include bilateral economic and regional developments. Three agreements in the fields of hydrocarbons, mining and energy are also expected to be signed.

Nigeria is Turkey's top trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa with a trading volume of $754 million in 2020, which is expected to rise to more than $1 billion.

The fight against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, will also be discussed during the Turkish president's visit.

This will include a request to transfer FETÖ schools that continue to operate in several parts of Nigeria to the Turkish Maarif Foundation.

Togo will be Erdoğan's last stop, where he will discuss ways to improve bilateral relations and expansion of bilateral trade, which was $150 million in 2020.

Having adopted a one-dimensional foreign policy shaped by its relations with the West for decades, Turkey has shifted to a more diversified, multidimensional and independent foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Turkey's opening up to Africa, which dates back to the action plan adopted in 1998, took shape in 2005, which Ankara declared the “Year of Africa.” Turkey was accorded observer status by the Africa Union the same year.

In a reciprocal move, the African Union declared Turkey its strategic partner in 2008, and relations between Africa and Turkey gained momentum when the first Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit was held in the commercial capital Istanbul with the participation of representatives from 50 African countries that year.

Turkish Airlines offers flights to 60 different destinations across 39 African countries while the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) has nearly 30 coordination centers in the continent. The Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) has joint business councils with more than half of the nations in Africa.