‘Türkiye a strategic partner for Zim’

Africa Moyo in ISTANBUL, Türkiye

Zimbabwe views Türkiye as a strategic partner in its vision of attaining a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income economy by 2030, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Ambassador Frederick Shava has said.

He was speaking during a ministerial meeting at the Türkiye-Africa Business and Economic Forum that opened here yesterday.

Ambassador Shava said since the coming in of the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa in November 2017, Zimbabwe has pursued a Foreign Policy of affirmation, engagement and re-engagement anchored on the themes, “Friend to all; Enemy to none” and “Zimbabwe is open for Business.”

“It is in this framework that we have sought to deepen and expand our relations with the Republic of Türkiye,” said Ambassador Shava.

Zimbabwe’s participation in the Türkiye-Africa Business and Economic Forum, he added, bears testimony to the “very good relations” between Harare and Ankara.

“We are very keen to tap into the wealth of expertise and productive capacity that Türkiye possesses in sectors that include agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, infrastructure development, energy, health and textiles.

“Furthermore, the volume of bilateral trade has grown by 50 percent over the past three years and there is potential for much bigger volumes of trade.”

In the first half of this year, said Ambassador Shava, the country’s investment promotion agency, the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA), issued five investment licenses to Turkish companies in manufacturing, textiles, transport, energy and service sectors.

“We are also here to encourage more companies from Türkiye to take advantage of the abundant investment opportunities in Zimbabwe and consider investing in the country,” he added.

Ambassador Shava said Zimbabwe cherishes the strong, longstanding, win-win bond of friendship and solidarity that exists between Africa and Türkiye, which has grown on an exponential scale.

To underline Türkiye’s determination to foster cordial relations with Africa, it has a diplomatic presence in 44 countries on the continent, with an almost equal presence of African diplomatic missions, including Zimbabwe, in Türkiye.

Trade volumes between Zimbabwe and Türkiye were US$38 million last year, and there are concerted efforts to grow the numbers to US$100 million in the near future.

Türkiye’s trade volumes with the rest of the continent reached US$40 billion last year, with projects implemented by Turkish companies topping US$87 billion.

There has also been the creation of Business Councils with Türkiye in 45 countries.

The Türkiye-Africa Business and Economic Forum is therefore seen as an integral platform in the implementation of the Türkiye-Africa Strategic Partnership.

“It is also a platform for the business sectors of the two sides to engage, network and hopefully, realise investment and trade opportunities.

“Since 2016, when the inaugural Türkiye-Africa Economic and Business Forum was convened, two more highly successful economic and business fora were organised,” said Ambassador Shava.

This year’s forum is running under the theme: “Addressing challenges, unlocking opportunities: Building stronger Türkiye-Africa economic partnerships”, which Ambassador Shava said, aptly captures the shift from focusing on reporting on activities and tasks to reporting on tangible results, outputs and outcomes of economic engagements.

Earlier on, Ambassador Shava had condoled with the people of Türkiye following the February 6 earthquake that ravaged 11 Turkish provinces, killing over 45 000 people.

“On behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Zimbabwe, I would like to reiterate our heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Türkiye and reassure you of our unwavering solidarity.

“At this same time, I wish to commend Türkiye for its resilience as the country reunited and rebuilt. It is this strength and resilience that has been the character of the Republic over the past 100 years, and I would like to extend our sincerest congratulations on this historic milestone of the century of Türkiye,” said Ambassador Shava.

Turkish Minister of Trade, Professor Ömer Bolat, said the business and economic forum should bring “our countries closer together and there is more cooperation”.

He added that the future of Africa should be determined by Africans themselves.

“We will continue to stand together with Africa. In the past, they said Africa is very far away from us, but from the Southern coast of Türkiye, you can go to Egypt in one or two hours by air.

“So Africa is not far from us, Africa should be closer to us. It is as if it (Africa) is closer to us than Europe and Asian countries. With the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we want to deepen our relationship with Africa.

“We are really happy that Africa is now a member of the G20. This membership shows that Africa is getting the position it deserves on the international platform,” said Prof Bolat.

The relations forged between African countries and Türkiye in the last 20 years, said Prof Bolat, have resulted in increased cooperation in various sectors.

“In the past 20 years, the African strategy of Türkiye was very successful; in 2003, it was a low level of trade volumes but last year, it was US$40 billion under the win-win principle.

“Turkish investors have made investments of US$10 billion and we have over 100 000 investments in Africa. Also Turkish contractors have made over 1 800 projects, which amount to US$85 billion. Therefore, we have impacted hundreds of thousands of lives of Africans through employment.

“We are determined to walk hand in hand with Africa and , leading to and African countries have great trade relations and our ministry is ready to work with you any time you contact us,” said Prof Bolat.

Trade volumes between Türkiye and Africa amounted to US$40,7 billion in 2022, up from US$1,35 billion in 2003, and by year end, the figure is expected to rise to US$50 billion.

Prof Bolat also thanked Türkiye’s sister African countries for their “solidarity and friendship” following this year’s earthquake.

Some Zimbabweans, including MedTech Holdings CEO Mr Afzal Motiwala and his son Zain, through their charity arm Nosh Foundation, flew to Türkiye to help the affected people with food and rescue operations.

Prof Bolat also expressed his condolences following the death of thousands of people affected by flooding in Libya, and earthquake in Morocco.

He said they have already sent some help to the affected, “but we are open to send more help if there is a need”.

Head of the Foreign Economic Relations Board, Mr Nail Olpak, said there was a need to increase collaboration with African partners mainly in infrastructure projects related to transportation, energy and health care, within the framework of a win-win principle.

“Transportation and telecommunication investments such as roads, railways, bridges, airports, ports, data centres and GSM networks, and infrastructure projects such as energy production, transmission and distribution, especially renewable energy, played an important role in increasing our economic performance,” he said.

“Our priority is to increase our cooperation with our African friends in infrastructure projects, especially transportation, energy and health, within the framework of the win-win principle,” he said.

The forum’s first edition was held in 2016, the second in 2018 and the third in 2021.

In 2020, the forum was held virtually following the outbreak of Covid-19.

The forum ends today, with President Erdoğan and Comoros President Azali Assoumani, who is also the African Union Chairman, expected to attend.