AA - During his visit to the African countries of Congo and Cameroon, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he considers Africa a strategic partner of Türkiye. Gul’s visit, which included scheduled meetings with other heads of states and high-ranking officials, comes at a time when increasing trade and business cooperation between Türkiye and various African states have gained strategic importance.
"We will discuss ways to boost our cooperation", Gul told reporters. Türkiye's trade volume with Africa was only USD 5 billion in 2003, but rose to USD 15 billion in 2009.
"Our target is to raise it to USD 30 billion in the shortest possible time", said Gul. He also said Türkiye could cooperate with the two countries in the contracting, mining, energy, tourism and agriculture sectors.