Next stop of the Africa tour: Nigeria
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.
In the course of the state visit, DEİK hosted Business Forums in all four countries. The meeting in Nigeria was held on Wednesday, 2 March 2016, in the capital of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Abuja.
In his speech at the Nigeria-Turkey Business Forum, the Economics Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Elitaş, referring to the large size of Nigeria (200 million) and Turkey (80 million) stressed the point that cooperation between the two nations needed to be advanced. He qualified the signing of four treaties on trade and investment a first step in this direction.
With one in five Africans living in Nigeria, every investment in this country was an investment in the African continent, the minister said. In this context, he pointed to the large potential of investments in the health sector. In the light of Nigeria's transformation into a regional hub, another important area of investment was aviation. He appealed to the participants in the Business Forum to strengthen their ties and to establish new partnerships.
In his speech at the Forum, the Trade and Investment Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Okechukwu Enelemah said that the strengthening of diplomatic ties will bring about closer economic ties. He saw a potential in many areas, in particular in construction, contracting and defence industry cooperation. He called upon the participants to build synergies between the two countries.
In his speech at the opening session of the Forum, DEİK President Ömer Cihad Vardan said that according to UN population growth projections, in 2050, Nigeria would be the third most populous country in the world. This demographic combined with its development potential and its geographical position predestined the country to play a key role in maintaining peace and ensuring the economic and social advancement of West Africa. DEİK members kept a close eye on Nigeria, Vardan said, and offered every conceivable support to the country in all business sectors and in particular in industrial products, construction, energy and infrastructure. He reminded the participants that the country had set itself the goal of being in the Top 20 of the most develop economies by 2020.
After the opening addresses, the attending over 250 Turkish and Nigerian businesspeople held B2B talks.