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Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission Erastus Mwencha believes that more efforts are needed to boost the partnership between Turkey and Africa.
"A lot has been done and a lot remains to be done" in terms of the execution of projects agreed upon in 2008, when the first Africa-Turkey Summit was held in Istanbul, Mwencha told The Anadolu Agency in exclusive remarks on the periphery of the Second Africa-Turkey Summit, now underway in the Equatorial Guinea capital, Malabo.
"That is why we are meeting here at this summit to energize those areas where we are not doing very well," Mwencha said in response to a question as to whether plans and objectives set in 2008 had been achieved.
"One of the areas that we would like to see is greater investment, particularly in the manufacturing sector," he said.
"We are satisfied with the progress that we have been making in cultural and diplomatic ties; as you can see, Africa today has many embassies in Ankara and, equally, Turkey has got many embassies in Africa," he added.
"We see Turkish airlines [reaching African airports], we see trade is growing. But one key area that we would like to really focus on is manufacturing value addition. And Turkey has what it takes: a huge business community that is capable of investing in large factories in Africa to create jobs for Africans," he stressed.
Asked to elaborate on his earlier remark that the summit "should not be business as usual," Mwencha said: "You can leave the relations to grow in its natural course, but you can also intervene. And what we would like to see is intervention."
"In the last six years, we have seen relations with turkey improving… That relationship is built on some common factors. Obviously, Turkey has a strong advantage in some of the key factors that Africa is keen to develop, namely, manufacturing, service, industry and agribusiness," he added.
The Africa-Turkey summit kicked off Wednesday in Malabo with a technical meeting. The event is expected to wrap up Friday with a meeting at the heads-of-state-and-government level.
The ministerial meeting is expected to look into proposed key priority projects to be implemented as part of the Turkey-Africa partnership plan, before submitting the document for endorsement by assembled heads of state and government on Friday.
Seven short-term projects have already been proposed by the African side.
-African security-
Mwencha said Turkey can play a role in peace building and security endeavors in Africa – one of the key priorities Turkey has identified for its partnership with Africa.
"In peace and security, you need all parties that can support your peace effort to work with you, to understand your aspirations and to cooperate with you," the AU official said.
"Turkey is one of the countries that we have worked with, for instance… in the case of Somalia. You go to Somalia, you see Turkish airlines, you see Turkish humanitarian workers, you see Turkish government support… that is what we need to do," he added.
Turkey, Mwencha said, can also boost African efforts to obtain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
"First of all, Turkey is going to assume the presidency of the G20… Turkey can advance this cause during its presidency by exposing the need for us to have that seat," he said.
"If you go back to the challenges that led to the creation of the G20, it is because the traditional institutions were not working well. For example, the G7 was seen as not being a [sufficient] representative," he said.
Asked how he saw the future of Turkey-Africa relations, Mwencha answered with one word: "Bright."
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