Turkish business delegation visits Mali to boost trade

By Gokhan Ergocun</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – Officials from Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) paid a visit to Mali, a West African country, seeking to bolster bilateral trade and investment relations, a DEIK official said on Friday.</p> <p>In a written statement, Fatih Altunbas, the head Turkey-Mali Business Council of DEIK, noted that Turkey's exports to Mali were $55 million, while imports from the African country were $20 million in 2018.</p> <p>&quot;Our bilateral trade volume was $75 billion in 2018, we import mostly cotton, gold and aluminum, and export iron, cement and food products,&quot; Altunbas said.</p> <p>He added: &quot;Our target is raising the trade volume between the two countries to high-level, we are in here for this goal.&quot;</p> <p>The 15-person delegation — from defense, construction, electronic, information technologies sectors — visited the capital Bamako between April 16-18.