The President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, from 28 February to 3 Mart 2016 paid an official visit to Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Guinea. He was accompanied by a delegation of over 130 Turkish businesspeople who used the opportunity to learn about the investment climate in Africa and its business potential.
On his visit to Africa, the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was accompanied by the largest delegation on any state visit this year. The trip led them from Côte d'Ivoire, to Ghana, then to Nigeria and finally to Guinea.
The first Business Forum hosted by DEİK was held on Monday, 29 February 2016, in the financial capital of Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan.
In a speech at Forum closure, the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Daniel Kablan Duncan, drew attention to the importance of corporate structures in the advancement of bilateral trade, and said that Turkey played a significant role in the achievement of his country's goals for 2020. The relation between the two countries was not restricted to trade alone, new mechanisms would be created to ensure the transfer of knowledge and technology as well.
DEİK President Ömer Cihad Vardan said in his speech that a number of Turkish companies had already begun to make plans for investments in Côte d'Ivoire. He himself expected a significant impulse for bilateral trade cooperation from this visit. For this potential to be realised, decisions had been taken at the Forum to invigorate the DEİK/Turkey-Côte d'Ivoire Business Council established in 2015, to remove obstacles to bilateral trade, and to install a mechanism that facilitates the transfer of knowhow and technology.
The President of La Confédération générale des entreprises de Côted'Ivoire (CGECI), Jean Kacou Diagou, promised to do what was necessary to achieve the bilateral trade goal of USD 1 billion by 2020. Diaguou emphasised, however, that the two countries needed to cooperate more closely on the issues of inter-sector collaboration and public-private partnerships. To intensify trade relation the parties would focus their efforts on six thematic areas.
