Turkey’s businessmen visit Sudan next week
October 9, 2009 (ISTANBUL) — Some 150 businessmen are expected to pay a five-day visit to Sudan between October 17 and 21, a Turkish confederation said today.
Sudan’s visit come in line with the scope of Turkey-Africa Foreign Trade Bridge Programs, said a statement released on Friday.
A delegation led by Turkey’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker will visit Sudan with the businessmen seeking to do business or to invest in the eastern African country.
The programs have been continuing for four years, and around 120,000 trade talks have been held and around 7 billion USD of trade volume has been realized so far.
The Turkish Federation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), formed by seven different regional business federations throughout the country, was established in Istanbul in 2005. The confederation encompasses 150 businessmen associations.
Istanbul organized the first Turkey-Africa Summit which takes place in Istanbul from 19 to 22 August, aiming at boosting trade and business ties with the African countries.
Africa is becoming of great interest for the Turkish business which looks for alternative markets after its failure to join the European Union, but also due to the global financial crisis.
This year Turkey’s trade with African countries has witnessed a steep rise, nearly as much as 40 percent. The trade volume between Turkey and the entire continent has increased threefold in the last three years from $6 billion to $18 billion. In the same period, Turkey’s exports to Africa grew even larger than this and soared to $9 billion from $2.5 billion.
(ST)