Addis Ababa(HAN) September 27, 2014- International Trade and Investment news. Turkey has emerged as a generous donor for humanitarian crises across the African continent over the past years, especially in the context of Somalia.
Ethiopian State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dewano Kedir, held talks with a Turkish business delegation on Friday. The State Minister welcomed the delegation and briefed it on the business and investment opportunities available in Ethiopia. He said the most important areas on which to focus were agriculture, food processing, leather and leather products, textile and agro-processing and related areas. He expressed the full support of the Government for those investing. Ethiopian Investment Commissioner, Fitsum Arega detailed the Government’s policies and strategies, and noted the incentives, tax-holidays, regulations and legal frameworks for foreign and domestic investors. He said there was trainable manpower, abundant land, energy resources and sufficient power production, a stable government and peace and security in Ethiopia.
Though Turkey is relatively new in African politics, trade and aid circles, it has already expanded its area of influence in the continent by linking its soft power tools of transportation links, trade and education closely with its foreign policy.
The Turkish delegation’s members appreciated the Government commitments and its efforts to transform the country through strong leadership. They said they had interest in the areas of agriculture, livestock farming, textile, glass production, furniture making, construction industry, fertilizer manufacturing, fabric and garment production. They said they would be prepared to transfer to Ethiopia their experience, technology and knowledge for their different areas of specialization.
Meanwhile: The major key to Turkey’s success is that it has much more presence in the streets of Mogadishu than many other actors. Some UN agencies and international NGOs have been running their programmes through remote management from Nairobi due to security challenges, however Turkish officials and aid workers have continued to work in the city. This is because Turkey has established a high level of trust within government, various armed groups and war-torn communities. Its Islamic background is also an important factor, according to Kilian Kleinschmidt, the UN’s deputy humanitarian co-ordinator in Somalia.
So, the Somalia experience shows that Turkey’s main strength in response to peace-building challenges is the way it uses its different capacities and resources in a co-ordinated way; providing assistance for relief aid and reconstruction, but also working with Somalia as a business partner and investing in the Somali diaspora investment strategy and helping youth education.
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