By Tuncay Cakmak, Gulbahar Sayim
ANKARA (AA) – Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey on Friday invited Turkish investors to come to his country that he said is “a door to West Africa.”
Dussey met representatives of the Turkish economic sector in Istanbul and visited Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara.
“I came to Turkey upon my counterpart Cavusoglu’s invitation that he made on July 20, 2020,” said Dussey. “We believe that Turkey, which makes its presence felt in Africa and Togo, is a significant power in the world.”
He noted Cavusoglu’s announcement about opening a Turkish Embassy in Togo during his visit and said the embassy has been opened and thanked Turkey for its help.
"The volume of trade between the two countries is satisfactory," he said, noting that Togo has benefitted from Turkey in grain and production, and that Ankara also buys coffee and cocoa from Togo.
He encouraged Turkish investors to produce projects in Togo and said his country has prepared a development plan involving for 2020-2025.
He said Togo is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc, and there is a free trade market in Africa, stressing that even though his country has a population of only 8 million, “investing in Togo means investing in a population of 300 million people.”
Dussey said natural ports with deep waters are located in Lome, the capital, and international organizations that oversee it have also established centers.
Emphasizing that Togo has the coronavirus pandemic under control, he said African countries have not been affected by the virus as much as the US, Europe or India, and a vaccination campaign continues in the region.
-Call for unity on fight against terror
Addressing the problem of terror incidents in the Sahel region of Africa, where Togo is located, Dussey said there were no terrorist incidents in his country, but Togo did not give up security measures.
Dussey stressed that the fight against terrorism should be in unity and positive results can be achieved when African countries fighting terrorism can share intelligence information.
He said terrorism should be fought by focusing on the questions of how and why it occurs and by creating a dialogue, noting that Togo in that sense is trying to support its citizens in terms of their needs.
*Writing by Merve Berker
