Turkish, African business communities gather for cooperation forum in Istanbul

Turkish producers and African trade firms will meet at the 13th World Cooperation Industries (WCI) Forum to seek opportunities to leverage the region’s potential.

This year’s WCI Forum, bringing together Turkish exporters and African traders, will take place Wednesday and Thursday in Istanbul, the president of the event told Anadolu.

Utku Bengisu stated that the trade volume between the EU and Africa totaled $356 billion, while China and Africa’s trade volume reached $288 billion, saying that investor and export-oriented countries have the continent on their radar.

“Africa holds great potential for Türkiye, too,” he said. “There’s a lot of demand for production, which needs human resources, and the sustainability of agriculture and food require uncultivated, undamaged lands.”

Bengisu noted that the African continent is home to a population of 1.4 billion and it has the potential to reach 2.5 billion by 2050. “A new middle class of 350 million is expected to emerge as a consumer base for exports and trade, bringing forth a new population,” he said.

“The growing population points to a significant potential for new demand emerging in cosmetics, medicine, construction, furniture, textile, food, agriculture, and more,” he added.

Bengisu emphasized that China is putting in a collective effort to increase exports and trade with Africa, while “even the smallest countries in Europe” are seeking ways to trade with the continent, “as the prime ministers of Finland and Sweden are making tours to Kenya, while Italians are meeting small and medium-sized enterprises.”

“Saudi Arabia is also accelerating efforts to increase its total trade volume with Africa to $15 billion,” he noted.

Bengisu highlighted that every producer country has some type of strategy concerning Africa, and he indicated that Türkiye needs to establish a strategy center for the continent to increase its current trade volume.

“An African Ministry, a strategic action center, representatives in Africa,” he said. “We can establish an export cluster specialized in Africa within our Ministry of Trade and create a cluster to include producers from all 81 Turkish provinces, independent of the sector.”

“These measures could certainly impact Türkiye’s direct competition with China, India, and the United Arab Emirates,” he added, noting that the facilitation of travel between Türkiye and the African continent also contributes to trade.

“We have launched preparations to host 2,000 decision makers from 49 African countries and over 300 Turkish businesspeople — a record participation,” he added.