BY DAILY SABAH WITH AA – JAN 14, 2024 12:08 PM
Speaking at the 4th Türkiye-Africa Business and Economic Forum, jointly organized by Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), the Turkish Trade Ministry and the African Union in Istanbul, Erdogan said the Turkish business people’s direct investments in Africa have exceeded $10 billion.
Recalling that Türkiye announced its Africa Strategy in 2003 and declared 2005 as the “Africa Year,” he said that Türkiye established its cooperation with Africa on a win-win basis.
In 2005, when Erdogan was prime minister, the Turkish government announced the “Year of Africa”, and Ankara was accorded observer status by the African Union. Since 2009, Ankara has engaged with African countries, big and small, at a feverish speed. It is looking to compete in Africa with established powers, from the US and France to China and wealthy Gulf states.
The ties soon began to take on an increasingly commercial aspect. In 2012, a landmark $1.7bn deal was signed between Ethiopia and Yapi Merkezi, a Turkish construction giant, to build a 400km railway connecting eastern, central, and northern Ethiopia to the port of Djibouti.
That deal is now the norm, with Turkish companies, from energy to construction, active across Africa. Today, total Turkish investment in the continent stands at $6.5bn, officials say. The main trade and investment sectors are construction, steel, and cement, followed by textiles, household goods, and electronic devices. Turkey is now the second largest investor in Ethiopia, after China..
More than a third of Turkey’s overall investment in sub-Saharan Africa – roughly $2.5bn – has gone to Ethiopia, which is fast becoming the centerpiece of Ankara’s Africa push. With a population of over 100m and an ambitious leader with regional designs in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia is the gateway to the Horn of Africa, a strategic region guarding some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
Stressing that Türkiye views Africa’s success as its success, he said: “We fully supported the African Union’s G20 membership since the very beginning. Accordingly, we welcomed the African Union’s admission as a member during the recent G20 Summit in New Delhi.
The number of Turkish embassies in Africa from a dozen in 2009 to 42 today, March 17th, 2021. This year, it will open its 43rd, in Guinea-Bissau.
The number of Turkish embassies in Africa has increased from 12 in 2003 (countries shaded dark red on the map) to 42 in 2021. Turkey’s president has sought to remodel Turkey as an “Afro-Eurasian state”; a model for the Islamic world and an alternative to the West, which, in his mind, has surrendered its moral authority.
In 2021, Türkiye became a strategic partner of the African Union, he recalled, and said that the country’s bilateral trade with the continent reached almost $41 billion last year.
“We believe that the free trade area on the African continent will create significant opportunities for trade and investments in the coming period,” Erdogan said.
According to AA, in 2017, Turkish companies completed 1,864 projects in Africa, totaling $85.4 billion in investment in infrastructure and superstructure
Trade between Turkey and Africa has ballooned from $5.5bn in 2003 to more than $26bn today, according to Turkish officials. Erdogan – who has visited more African countries than any other non-African leader – wants trade volume to double to $50bn in the coming years.
In 2022, bilateral trade between Turkey and Africa reached $40.7 billion, up from $5.4 billion in 2003. The contract value of construction projects undertaken by Turkish contractors across the continent rose to $85 billion in 2017.
Turkish companies have undertaken critical infrastructure projects in Africa, including energy, food, and agriculture. The majority of these projects have been in the Maghreb, with projects in Algeria and Libya comprising 67% of total African projects.
Turkey partners with African nations in the economic sphere to overcome their challenges through more trade, investment, and humanitarian assistance.
Companies from Türkiye have undertaken tens of billions of dollars worth of infrastructure and superstructure projects in Africa, cementing their rapid expansion in the continent in a drive that has been creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The contracting firms completed 1,864 projects across Africa worth $85.4 billion (TL 2.57 trillion) as of the end of 2023, according to data from the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye (DEIK).
Turkish companies’ investments across the continent exceed $10 billion, and their firms employ more than 100,000 Africans.
Türkiye’s engagement with the African continent has been gaining pace over the years. Since taking office nearly two decades ago, first serving as prime minister, Erdoğan has been fostering ties with the continent, presenting Türkiye as a fairer player than the continent’s former colonial powers.
The diplomatic push has seen Türkiye’s trade volume with Africa surge to nearly $41 billion as of the end of 2022, from as low as $5.4 billion in 2003. The figure is projected to hit $50 billion in 2023.
The government’s priority to engage with Africa has helped facilitate the growth of business and trade relations. It came with a strong commitment focused on direct aid, infrastructure, transportation projects, and mutually beneficial economic partnerships.
Major Turkish construction companies in Uganda, Polat Yol, and Yapı Merkezi have undertaken megaprojects.
Polat Yol won a civil works contract to upgrade the 92-kilometer (57-mile) Muyembe-Nakapiripirit Road, linking Uganda to Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Trade has improved along the road that travels through the districts of Bulambuli, Kween and Nakapiripirit, according to residents. The road crosses the Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, Uganda’s second largest conservation protected area after Murchison Falls National Park.
Once completed, it will boost the flow of tourists in the area, which will create employment opportunities for residents and increase economic benefits for the government, Lilly Ajarova, a Ugandan conservationist and tourism expert, who is the head of the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), said.
“Pian Upe is a captivating haven for nature enthusiasts and conservationists seeking to experience the thrill of African wildlife in its natural habitat. It is also the best place to see Uganda’s rarest animal, the cheetah. This widens the tax basket and tourism industry’s business opportunities,” Ajarova told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Yenen Edip, the project manager for the Muyembe-Nakapiripirit Road, says the majority of employees on the project are Ugandans.
“Our mode of operation is managing the work centrally and delivering it locally with local people at the center stage. We aim to share our knowledge with the people, expose them to available technology, and become a positive force supplementing their socio-economic efforts,” he said.
Residents hailed the generosity of Polat Yol.
“The Turkish contractors are very generous. During Qurban Bayram, they use their tracks to transport animals for slaughter and provide us with free meat. This is something we had never seen before. We are so blessed to have them,” Muhammad Swadiq, a local imam, told AA.
Qurban Bayram is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha. It is the practice of sacrificing an animal in remembrance of the Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son at the command of God.
Motorists whom AA spoke to acknowledged spending less time on the road and making more money because a trip that took days now only takes hours.
At the beginning of 2023, the government pitched Yapı Merkezi to build a 273-kilometer (170-mile) section of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line from the Malaba border post between Uganda and Kenya to Kampala, which is expected to cost $2.2 billion.
The railway line was supposed to be constructed by the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), but after eight years of non-execution, Uganda opted for the Turkish builder to build the line.
SGR project coordinator Engineer Perez Wamburu said Kampala signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Yapı Merkezi.
Turkish companies also built the Tripoli Convention Center in Libya, the Kigali Convention Center in Rwanda, the parliament building in Cameroon, the Dakar Arena, a state-of-the-art multisport complex with a 15,000-seat capacity in Senegal, the Dakar International Conference Center in Senegal, the Blaise Diagne International Airport in Senegal and the Niamey Airport in Niger, among others.
Turkish Ambassador to Uganda Fatih Ak says Türkiye aims to share its knowledge in infrastructural development and all aspects that can facilitate accelerated prosperity for Uganda.
“We are paying attention to ensuring that Turkish companies operating in Uganda are doing a good job that directly improves Uganda’s transportation network, shares skills, and stimulates job creation for Ugandan people,” Ak said.
LAST UPDATE: JANUARY 14, 2024 15:50
https://african.business/2021/03/trade-investment/erdogans-ambition-drives-turkeys-africa-surge
Said Cherkaoui 24 