News / Africa
Africa-Turkey Summit kicks off
20 Nov 2014 at 19:37hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe, who is the African Union (AU) Vice Chairperson, is in Equatorial Guinea for the second Africa-Turkey Summit for heads of state slated for this Friday.
Representatives from the AU and various African regional groupings will also attend the summit which is expected to discuss and adopt a 4-year action plan from 2015-2018 that will focus on areas such as industry and trade, energy, agriculture, education and health.
The opening ceremony was held this Thursday morning with the AU Commission Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania's Foreign Ministers acknowledging that Turkey is emerging to be one of the strategic partners for development, trade and investment with Africa.
After the opening, Foreign Affairs Ministers from participating countries held a closed session to examine a report presented by senior officials and ambassadors.
In an interview after the session, Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengengwi said they resolved that it was not necessary for all 53 African countries to attend the summit, so President Mugabe, who is also the SADC Chairperson, is attending the meeting on behalf of the regional grouping.
The Africa-Turkey Summit is expected to evaluate the progress made to date since the first partnership summit which was held in Istanbul in 2008.
The high level meeting will also deliberate on the gains achieved as well as examine challenges that countries have encountered in implementing what came out during the first summit, as well as to strategise on the way forward based on the lessons learnt.
Since the inaugural summit, the government of Turkey has endorsed six out of the 16 projects submitted by the AU Commission under the framework of the Africa-Turkey Partnership Plan.
Representatives from the AU and various African regional groupings will also attend the summit which is expected to discuss and adopt a 4-year action plan from 2015-2018 that will focus on areas such as industry and trade, energy, agriculture, education and health.
The opening ceremony was held this Thursday morning with the AU Commission Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania's Foreign Ministers acknowledging that Turkey is emerging to be one of the strategic partners for development, trade and investment with Africa.
After the opening, Foreign Affairs Ministers from participating countries held a closed session to examine a report presented by senior officials and ambassadors.
In an interview after the session, Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengengwi said they resolved that it was not necessary for all 53 African countries to attend the summit, so President Mugabe, who is also the SADC Chairperson, is attending the meeting on behalf of the regional grouping.
The Africa-Turkey Summit is expected to evaluate the progress made to date since the first partnership summit which was held in Istanbul in 2008.
The high level meeting will also deliberate on the gains achieved as well as examine challenges that countries have encountered in implementing what came out during the first summit, as well as to strategise on the way forward based on the lessons learnt.
Since the inaugural summit, the government of Turkey has endorsed six out of the 16 projects submitted by the AU Commission under the framework of the Africa-Turkey Partnership Plan.
Source - B-Metro
