Gambian trade minister invites Turkish companies

By Gokhan Kavak, Tufak Aktas, Iclal Turan

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Gambian trade minister said his country has a “huge” trade potential for Turkish companies, including in areas of construction, infrastructure, shipping, and logistics.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the third edition of the Turkey-Africa Economic and Business Forum in Istanbul, Seedy Keita said he expects that the private sector meetings between Turkey and Africa during the forum will help “grow the investment and trade between two countries.”

Underlining that Africa is a “very fast-growing continent, with a young population and a lot of investment opportunities,” Keita said: “We can leverage on the opportunities and the investment skills and expertise of Turkey’s companies to help us grow.”

“At the same time, Turkish companies and investors can take advantage of the rich resource base Africa has to offer. This is a win-win situation,” he stressed.

Keita said that a Turkish company is currently providing his country with electricity as part of a previous investment agreement between Gambia and Turkey.

Gambia will host the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, of which Turkey is also a member, Keita reminded, and said that he sees it as “another opportunity for Turkish companies to come and invest” in his country.

The two-day Turkey-Africa Economic and Business Forum began on Thursday in Istanbul, where around 3,000 African and Turkish businesspeople and over 30 ministers from African countries as well as Turkish officials gathered.

Turkey and Africa's bilateral trade volume, which was $5.4 billion in 2003, reached $25 billion in 2020, Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus said at a news conference on the first day of the forum organized by Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) in cooperation with the Trade Ministry and African Union Commission (AUC).

The event will include a ministerial meeting, B2B (business-to-business) debates, signing ceremonies, and panel discussions in which several topics such as cooperation in agriculture, pandemic, innovation, and financing will be discussed.

The summit is also important as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned to Turkey on Thursday after a four-day tour of three African countries, including Angola, Togo, and Nigeria.