Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said March 18 that Turkey has sent almost $1 billion worth of aid to Somalia since 2011 as a part of the country’s Africa strategy.
Speaking after a G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in the western German town of Baden-Baden, Şimşek said Turkey shared its existing strategies especially on Africa at the meeting.
He said one of the agenda items of the G-20 was to strengthen dialogue with African countries, “because the next 100 years will be the [years] of Africa.”
“So what is Asia today in terms of global economy; if Asia is the biggest engine of the global economy today, there is a possibility for Africa in the future.
“Turkey is already making an enormous effort toward Africa. We have a strategy. So we had 12 embassies in 2004 and now there are 39,” he said.
Şimşek also said the two-day meeting in Baden-Baden was a “fruitful” one for Turkey to express itself to investors.
“We tried to remove the question marks on the minds of those who have investments in Turkey and those who are considering investing,” he said.
The meetings provided a preliminary discussion platform ahead of the G-20 Summit of heads of states and governments, which will be held in Hamburg between July 7 and 8.
The G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors will also gather at the International Monetary Fund’s spring and annual meetings in April and October in Washington.