Addis Ababa, 19 June 2017 – In line with the African Union-Turkey Follow-up Mechanism, the 7th Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) was held at the Headquarters of the Commission in Addis Ababa. The purpose of the meeting was to asses and review the Strategic Partnership from the 2014 Malabo Summit to date and define the way forward for the partnership by calling for concrete multilateral projects.

In her opening remarks, the Head of the African Union Delegation, H.E. Ms. Fatoumata Kaba Sidibe, Chair of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee, Ambassador of the Republic of Guinea to the African Union, in her capacity as Chair of PRC, expressed her gratitude to the Government and the people of the Republic of Turkey for the support rendered to the continent. She underscored the continued progress of the partnerships, and noted that despite the progress, there are still challenges in the implementation of projects/activities embedded in the first and second African Union-Turkey Summit Action Plans.

H.E. Ms. Sidibe, also pointed out that the African Union is in the process of concluding the evaluation of its strategic partnerships in order to accommodate them within the framework of the Continental Goals and Aspirations defined under the Agenda 2063 and its First Ten-Year Implementation Plan. She highlighted that within that context, the continent plans to embark on a number of realistic and achievable projects based on the needs and interests and the core competencies of the partners.

Head of the Turkish Delegation, H.E. Ambassador Ahmet Riza Demirer, Director General for Africa in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey on his part re-affirmed Turkey’s commitment to partnering with the African Union in driving forward its development agenda. He underscored the progress made by Turkey in Africa’s development. He further noted the importance of ensuring that the partnership is strengthened by deemphasizing a donor recipient approach. He highlighted on the need to cooperate more in order to understand the continent’s problems better and ultimately raise global awareness under challenges faced by African countries.

The meeting, having reviewed the progress in the implementation of the Action Plan 2015-2019, underscored the importance of moving towards multilateral focused projects, which in turn will lead to greater economic integration of the continent. It was noted that Turkey has the assets to carry out this strategic partnership and with a combination of Africa’s endowments and opportunities together with the technological and financial capability of Turkey, both sides can make the partnership a great success.

Finally, the meeting welcomed the holding of the African Union-Turkey Ministerial Meeting, which will be held at a date to be mutually agreed upon by the two sides.

For further information contact

Dr Levi Uche Madueke, Head, Partnerships Management and Coordination Division, Bureau of the Chairperson I African Union Commission I Email: maduekel@africa-union.org; PMCD@africa-union.org;

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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