The Second Turkey-Africa Ministerial Review Conference will take place on Monday, February 12, 2018 in ?stanbul, Turkey. The conference, which seeks to review progress achieved with regards to the Turkey-Africa Cooperation, is co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and the African Union Commission. It comes four years after the first Africa-Turkey Summit was held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in November 2014. The Conference, according to a statement from the organisers, is symbolic in the sense that it will coincide with the 10th Anniversary of the African Union Summit of 2008 when Turkey was declared a strategic partner of the African Union. “In that sense, the Ministers taking into account the importance of the anniversary will see how they can combine their efforts to further expand Africa-Turkey Partnership at all levels and in all fields based on equality and mutual benefit,” the statement reads in parts. The conference is expected to attract delegates from African Union member states, including the representatives from Rwanda, Guinea, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Senegal, Libya, South Africa, Uganda, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Togo, Gabon and Chad, and representatives of the African Union Commission. “Djibouti, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Somalia and Tanzania will be invited by Turkey as observers,” organisers said. The conference will review the “the progress achieved with regards to the partnership and discuss steps that can be taken in order to strengthen the cooperation between Africa and Turkey.” The meeting is expected to come up with consolidated and streamlined partnership between Africa and Turkey that focuses on socio-economic development, equality and mutual benefit. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
