Turkey’s trade with African countries on rise
Posted by meb at November 25th, 2008
A senior official from the Turkish Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade said on Tuesday that the trade volume between Turkey and African countries increased by 113 percent thanks to the implementation of an improvement strategy targeting the African market.
Tuncer Kayalar, Undersecretary for Foreign Trade, told the Anatolian news agency that Turkey’s exports to African countries rose up to 5.9 billion USD, while its imports from such countries increased to 6.8 billion USD in 2007.
“We expect export figures to reach 9.5 billion USD by the end of 2008,” Kayalar said.
Kayalar said African countries not only constituted an ideal market for exports, but also they offered cheap raw materials for industrial activities.
Noting that Turkey’s Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade implemented a “Strategy for the Improvement of Economic Relations with Africa” in 2003, Kayalar said commercial and economic cooperation agreements were signed with 11 African countries since such date.
Kayalar also said that the trade volume between Turkey and Africa rose up to 12.8 billion USD with a 131 percent rise during 2003-2007 period.
He said such figure was expected to reach 19 billion USD by the end of 2008.
source: Today’s Zaman
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