High-Level Contacts between Turkey and the African Union
· Second Ministerial Review Conference of the Turkey-Africa Partnership
The second Ministerial Review Conference of the Turkey-Africa Partnership was held on 12 February 2018 in Istanbul.
· Assembly of the African Union
The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, HE Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu attended the 24th session of the Assembly of the African Union on 30-31 January 2015.
· African Parliamentary Union
HE Mr. Mustafa Şentop, President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly participated in the 42nd Conference of the African Parliamentary Union held in Djibouti from 27 to 30 November 2019.
· High Level Video-Conference Meeting on Somalia
H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey attended the High Level Video-Conference Meeting on Somalia held on 29 April 2020 under the co-chairmanship of the African Union Commission and the Federal Government of Somalia.
· Sixth and Seventh Senior Officials Meetings
The 6th and 7th Senior Officials Meetings between the African Union and Turkey took place in Ankara in March 2015 and in Addis Ababa in June 2017, respectively.
Activities in Addis Ababa
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The Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, HE Mr. Thomas Kwesi Quartey participated as a speaker at the seminar entitled “Multilateralism: The Role of State-led Coalitions” organized on 18 December 2017 by the embassies of the MIKTA group (Mexico, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Turkey, Australia) and the University of Addis Ababa at the initiative of the Turkish Embassy.
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The Turkish Embassy in Addis Ababa attended the meeting of the African Union Partners Group (AUPG) held on February 14, 2018 at the headquarters of the African Union with the participation of HE Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Commission.
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The Turkish Embassy in Addis Ababa is among the limited number of participants to the Gender Pre-Summits organized by the African Union as a result of Turkey’s contributions to the AU budget in gender-related programs.
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The Embassy was also invited to various meetings of the African Union that are open to partners. The Ambassador of Turkey in Addis Ababa had various meetings with the AU Commissioners.
Turkey’s Assistance to the AU Commission
· Annual Budget Support
The Government of Turkey has been providing an annual financial contribution to the budget of the African Union since 2009. This contribution is presently to the tune of 1 million USD per year.
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The Government of Turkey providing financial contribution to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in Africa by supporting the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
· Training Assistance
The Diplomatic Academy of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed ten staff members of the African Union Commission for training.
· Equipment Donation to the AUC
Upon the request of African Union Commission, Partnership Management and Coordination Division, TIKA donated various essential office equipment to the African Union on 8 December 2017.
Institutional Cooperation within International Organizations
G20
Turkey assumed the G20 Presidency in 2015 and highlighted the needs of LDCs and developing countries within the G20 platform. During its Presidency, Turkey worked to prioritize the interests of States not included in the G20, especially low income and least developed countries, including those in Africa.
Turkey supports the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, in order to provide fiscal space and ease financing constraints of the low-income countries to mitigate the humanitarian and economic fallout of COVID-19. As of 9 March 2021, 31 African countries applied to utilize the Initiative.
Group of Friends of the LDCs at the United Nations
Turkey has set assisting the LDCs, of which 33 are African countries, as a foreign policy priority. This is also demonstrated by Turkey’s role as the Co-Chair of the Group of Friends of the LDCs at the United Nations. It is in line with the same prioritization that Turkey has hosted the Fourth United Nations Conference for the LDCs in Istanbul in 2011. Turkey will continue to support the LDCs in their fight against COVID-19 and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Fifth LDCs Conference to be hosted by Qatar in 2022 and its implementation in the last decade of action.
High-Level Conference on Energy Access in Africa
During its G-20 Chairmanship, Turkey organized events in line with the goals of the “Agenda 2063”. In this regard, before the G-20 Energy Ministers Meeting held in Istanbul on 2 October 2015, a High-Level Conference on Energy Access in Africa was organized on 1 October 2015. The Conference hosted nearly 400 participants, congregated Energy Ministers of G20 and African countries, representatives of regional energy institutions, private sector members doing business in Africa and institutional investors.
High-Level Partnership Forum on Somalia
Turkey has also focused on raising awareness of the situation in Somalia and helping to ensure timely and adequate international engagement with the country. To that end, Turkey hosted the sixth meeting of the High-Level Partnership Forum on Somalia in Istanbul on 23-24 February 2016. The meeting was co-chaired by the President of the Republic of Turkey, the President of Somalia and the Acting Secretary-General of the United Nations. This Forum, in which 46 countries and 11 international organizations participated, provided the necessary guidance for the pre-election period in Somalia.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
Turkey actively supported various initiatives with respect to African countries within the OIC, assuming an active role at OIC Contact Group meetings on Mali (initiated by Turkey), Sierra Leone and Somalia. As the 13th Summit Chair of the OIC, Turkey has also taken the initiative to organize an OIC fact finding mission to the drought-ridden countries of the region from 11 to 17 June 2017. The Report of that Mission was circulated by the OIC Secretariat to the member states to raise the awareness and support these countries. Turkey was also the penholder of the OIC resolution on this issue adopted at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ Council in Abidjan in July 2017.
Turkey submitted a study to OIC to delete the accumulated arrears of LDC countries to OIC and lowering their scale of contribution to 0.1%. Turkey calls on African LDC countries to actively keep this proposal on the agenda of the OIC.
Turkey also supports the Gambia for its prospective OIC 15th Islamic Summit Chairmanship and is ready to assist the Gambia as to the preparations of the Summit meeting to be held in Banjul in 2022.
Mediation
Turkey, together with Finland, launched the “Mediation for Peace” initiative at the UN in 2010 in order to create awareness about mediation. Among the 60 members of the UN Group of Friends of Mediation established as a result of this initiative, there are eight members from the African continent in addition to the African Union, namely Algeria, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
Based on the activities of the Group of Friends of Mediation, the UN General Assembly has adopted four resolutions on mediation so far. General Assembly resolution 68/303 adopted in 2014 emphasizes the contribution of regional and sub-regional organizations to mediation activities and calls for further development of these organizations’ mediation capacity (H.E.Mr. Smail Chergui, Peace and Security Commissioner of the African Union, participated as a speaker in the meeting where this resolution was adopted).
Considering the African Union’s role and importance in the area of mediation, Turkey supports the AU’s capacity development in this field. Turkey contributed USD 10,000 to the training activities carried out by the UN Education and Research Institute (UNITAR) for regional and sub-regional organizations in the African continent including the African Union, ECOWAS, SADC, IGAD, ECCAS and COMESA.
In addition to co-chairing friends of mediation groups in three international organizations (UN, OSCE and OIC), Turkey annually hosted the Istanbul Mediation Conference seven times so far and the OIC Member Countries Mediation Conference three times, which brought together renowned experts. So far, a total of 18 panellists from Africa participated in the mediation conferences. Head of Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Division at the African Union, Ambassador Fred Ngoga Gateretse participated as a panellist in the Seventh Istanbul Conference on Mediation held online on September 17, 2020.
The OIC Contact Group of Friends of Mediation, established thanks to Turkey's initiatives in this area, has become one of the most extensive OIC contact groups in a short period of time. The group has 26 members including 10 African countries: Gambia (co-chair), Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.
Young African diplomats participated in the “Mediation for Peace Certificate Program” organized by Turkey within the OIC. Diplomats from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, the Gambia, and Sudan attended the program held twice so far.
Cooperation with Regional Economic Communities and Civil Society
Turkey developed its relations with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa during the reporting period. Turkish ambassadors posted in the country hosting a RECs’ Secretariat are also accredited to the REC. Turkish embassies attend the meetings of the RECs to which they are invited and report to the Turkish authorities.
RECs were invited to the Second Turkey-Africa Partnership Ministerial Follow-up Conference held in Istanbul in February 2018, at the first Turkey-Africa Meeting of Agriculture Ministers and Agribusiness Forum held in Antalya in April 2017, at the first three Turkey-Africa Economic and Business Forums which were organized in Istanbul in 2016 and 2018 and online in 2020.
Turkey organized an Economic and Business Forum with the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS) on 22-23 February 2018, in Istanbul. This event provided an opportunity for discussions with the authorities of the individual countries of the region as well.
Turkey also aims at developing the legal framework for its relations with the RECs. In this context, a cooperation agreement in the field of trade and investment between Turkey and ECOWAS was signed on the occasion of the first Turkey-ECOWAS Forum.
A Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was signed on July 19, 2019 in Djibouti.
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) provided the equipment of IGAD’s Centre of Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (ICEPCVE).
A cooperation agreement between the Turkish Council of Foreign Economic Relations (DEIK) and the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS) was signed on 24 May 2016. A Memorandum of Understanding between DEIK and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was signed on the side-lines of the Turkey-Africa Meeting of Agriculture Ministers held in April 2017.
