UPDATE 2 - Turkey's foreign minister meets with African counterparts

ADDS DETAILS ON OTHER MEETINGS

By Jeyhun Aliyev, Burak Bir and Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met on Thursday with his counterparts from several African countries who are attending the 3rd Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul.

Cavusoglu said on Twitter that he met with Albert Shingiro of Burundi, Kandia Camara of Ivory Coast and Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava of Zimbabwe.

He later held meetings with Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania, Sylvie Baipo Temon of Central African Republic, David Francis of Sierra Leone, and Abdisaid Muse Ali of Somalia.

In a later tweet, Cavusoglu said he held his last bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit with Lejeune Mbella Mbella of Cameroon and Cherif Mahamat Zene of Chad.

Cavusoglu said he also met with Acting Speaker Fawzi Al-Nuwari of Libya’s House of Representatives.

The first Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit was held in Istanbul, the second in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, and the third has kicked off at the Istanbul Congress Center.

Held under the auspices of Turkey's presidency, the three-day summit, which will continue until Saturday, is being attended by heads of state or government and representatives of international institutions from African countries.

Turkey’s engagement with the African continent has been gaining pace over the years. In October, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan undertook a four-day diplomatic tour to three African countries – Angola, Nigeria and Togo.

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

Turkey aims 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.

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 totaled $5.4 billion in 2003, which climbed to $25.3 billion by 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic.