Turkish-African Alliance Soars: Ould Marzouk Hails ‘Satisfactory’ Partnership

He praised the Minister Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad, Mohamed Salem Ould Marzouk, in the African-Turkish partnership, emphasizing The outcome of the last two decades was “generally satisfactory.”

During his chairmanship, alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Hakan Fidan, the Third African-Turkish Ministerial Conference, held in Djibouti on November 3, 2024, he confirmed that There is no doubt that the interim evaluation meetings that both parties have been organizing have played a commendable role in correcting imbalances and rationalizing joint work.”

Ould Marzouk noted that this meeting comes to discuss a number of issues related to the joint action plan for the African-Turkish partnership 2022-2026, in the strategic areas identified by the Istanbul Declaration, to be a road map which improves cooperation between the African Union and the Republic of Turkey, in accordance with the priorities of Agenda 2063.

He continued to say: “It also comes to explore future prospects for cooperation in various fields, such as peace and security, governance, investment, education, youth, health, and infrastructure, on the other hand.”

The aim of this conference is to review the joint implementation of the last phase of the joint action plan 2020-2026 approved during the third African-Turkish summit held in Istanbul 2021.

Türkiye gives a strategic interest to strengthen its relations with the African Union, as it launched an action plan for openness to Africa about 25 years ago.

After gaining the status of an observer member of the African Union in 2005, Türkiye was declared one of the strategic partners of the African continent in 2008.

Trade relations between Türkiye and Africa have seen tremendous growth over the past two decades, with Africa’s exports to Türkiye reaching $15 billion.

In contrast, Africa’s imports from Türkiye were $2.1 billion in 2003 to $22 billion in 2023.