The Turkish foreign minister on Thursday promised to boost relations with Benin during a visit to the West African country.
"We evaluated how we can improve our bilateral relations during both our one-on-one meeting and talks with delegations," Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said during a joint news conference with his Beninese counterpart Aurelien Agbenonci in the country's largest city Cotonou.
Çavuşoğlu also said the top two diplomats agreed to work together to realize mutual visits by the presidents of Türkiye and Benin.
"We also discussed how we can strengthen our cooperation in the defense industry and security," he added.
The foreign ministers also talked about the steps they can take to "further develop our economic relations in all aspects," Çavuşoğlu said.
"Our meetings, both one-on-one and between delegations, were extremely productive and beneficial," he added.
Çavuşoğlu's Africa tour came after Agbenonci's visit to Türkiye in May.
The Turkish foreign minister embarked on a three-day Africa tour on Tuesday, with Benin his last stop after Senegal and Ghana.
Relations between the two countries "are developing on a sound basis," according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry. While Benin opened its embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara in 2013, Turkiye opened its embassy in Cotonou in 2014.
Türkiye aims to win alongside Africa and march together toward the future, Çavuşoğlu said in late 2021 in his commencement speech at the third Türkiye-Africa Partnership Summit’s foreign ministers meeting in Istanbul.
Ankara has frequently reaffirmed that its approach in its ever-growing relations with African countries is based on equal partnership and a win-win principle, emphasizing the strong will to further develop commercial ties. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last year embarked on a four-day diplomatic tour to three African countries, Angola, Nigeria and Togo, 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.
Türkiye’s engagement with the African continent has been gaining pace over the years. Having adopted a one-dimensional foreign policy shaped by its relations with the West for decades, Türkiye has shifted to a more diversified, multidimensional and independent foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. This 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.” Türkiye was accorded observer status by the Africa Union the same year. In a reciprocal move, the African Union declared Türkiye its strategic partner in 2008, and relations between Africa and Türkiye gained momentum when the first bilateral Cooperation Summit was held in the commercial capital Istanbul with the participation of representatives from 50 African countries that year.
Since taking office nearly two decades ago, first serving as prime minister, Erdoğan has been fostering ties with Africa, presenting Türkiye as a fairer player than the continent’s former colonial powers. Ankara has been stressing the desire to advance relations with the continent on the basis of a win-win relationship and equal partnership while observing mutual respect. Both sides have been vowing to tap into their greater potential when it comes to further expanding and deepening relations. To this effect, the number of Turkish embassies in Africa has increased from just 12 in 2002 to 43 in 2021.
