ERDOGAN: WE DESIRE TO PRODUCE, PROGRESS AND PROSPER TOGETHER WITH AFRICA

Addressing the Turkey-Sudan Business Forum, President Erdoğan said: “For Turkey, embracing Africa doesn’t only mean trade and economic benefits. Turkey’s approach to its African brothers and sisters and its relations with Africa don’t result from a desire for unilateral gains. We, on the contrary, desire to produce, progress and prosper together with Africa.”

“WE ATTACH SPECIAL IMPORTANCE TO OUR RELATIONS WITH THE COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES OF AFRICA”

Emphasizing the special importance Turkey attributes to African continent, countries and peoples, President Erdoğan stated that important steps have been taken regarding the relations between Turkey and Africa since 2005, the year which Turkey declared “African Year” during President Erdoğan’s tenure as Prime Minister.

“We have been pursuing an opening policy aimed at embracing the whole African continent for the past 15 years with a view to making up for the one-century gap in our relations,” President Erdoğan said, adding: “Embracing Africa doesn’t only mean trade and economic benefits. Turkey’s approach to its African brothers and sisters and its relations with Africa don’t result from a desire for unilateral gains. We desire to produce, progress and prosper together with Africa.”

“SUDAN RISES TO PROMINENCE WITH ITS ECONOMIC POTENTIAL”

Turkey, as a country which is aware of Africa’s potential, has forged strong ties with Africa on every platform, underlined President Erdoğan, noting that Sudan rises to prominence in Africa with its economic potential and human resources.

Stressing the need to deepen the political and financial as well as the human and cultural aspects of the bilateral relations between Turkey and Sudan, President Erdoğan said: “As such, I am of the belief that we have made a spirit of rapprochement and cooperation prevail in our political relations. We also maintain our contacts in the economic and trade fields.”

“WE ACT IN LINE WITH THE WIN-WIN PRINCIPLE”

Emphasizing the fact that a relationship in which only one side wins cannot have any permanence, President Erdoğan underlined that Turkey acts in line with the win-win principle and added: “For this reason, we seek to build our economic cooperation upon investments besides trade.”

President Erdoğan continued: “Our economy ministers and relevant friends have been carrying out joint works since this morning, making significant progress. God willing, we will reap the fruits of these efforts.”

“TURKISH BUSINESSPEOPLE HAVE 650 MILLION DOLLARS’ WORTH OF INVESTMENT IN SUDAN”

Turkish businesspeople have 650 million dollars’ worth of investment in Sudan, including 350 million dollars’ worth of direct investment and 300 million dollars through contracting services, President Erdoğan noted, expressing his belief that the talks the businesspeople from Turkey and Sudan hold during the business forum will yield results before long.

REBUILDING OF THE SUAKIN ISLAND IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM

President Erdoğan continued: “We should make a leap forward particularly in tourism. While we were touring the Suakin Island earlier in the day, I told my esteemed brother Al-Bashir ‘Al-Hanafi Mosque, Al-Shafei Mosque and an old customs building have been done here. However, why don’t you assign the Suakin Island to us for a certain duration so that we can rebuild this island in its original form?’ Do you know what this means? My brother Omar said ‘Okay’ for sure. Do you know what it means to rebuild and revive this island? By doing so, we will have given those who had razed it to the ground the following response: You came here and razed it to the ground. You razing it to the ground is similar to us shaving our beard. We will rebuild and revive it in such a fashion that it will show you that the beard that has been shaved grows back much stronger.”

 

Source: Turkish Presidency

News Date: 27 / 12 / 2017
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