9th World Forum for Cross-Sectoral Cooperation was held in Istanbul.

9th World Forum for Inter-Sectoral Cooperation (WCI FORUM) opening ceremony took place. One thousand 600 business people and government officials from 52 African countries came to Turkey for the forum organised. Deputy Minister of Trade Özgür Volkan Ağar also attended the ceremony of the forum and made statements.

Turkey Exporters Assembly (TIM), Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) and Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD) supported by the 9th of the World Inter-Sectoral Cooperation Forum was held in Istanbul Wow Convention Centre.

One thousand 600 business people and government officials from 52 African countries met in Turkey for the forum organised for the 9th time this year. Özgür Volkan Ağar, Deputy Minister of Trade, Pascal Bida Koyagbele, Minister of Strategic Investments of Central African Republic, Baboucarr Ousmaila Joof, Minister of Trade and Investment of Gambia, Koroma Umaro Napoleon, Deputy Minister of Mines and Resources of Sierra Leone, Niragira Ghristine Umurundi, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of Burundi attended the opening ceremony, Ahmet Güleç, Deputy Chairman of TIM, Mehmet Akif Develioğlu, Deputy Chairman of ITO Board of Directors, Mahmut Asmalı, President of MUSIAD, Utku Bengisu, Chairman of WCI Forum, Esma Ataş, Chairman of Modaise Erva, Chairman and Members of the Board of Directors of Kurutma Dünyası and business people attended the event.

Minister of Trade Özgür Volkan Ağar, who attended the forum organised, made statements. Ağar emphasised the Africa-Turkey relations and said, “Africa is not oil, diamonds and gold for us, but friendship, brotherhood, partnership and mutual gain”. Stating that they have built economic relations on a win-win understanding on the basis of equal partnership, Özgür Volkan Ağar said, “In the first 8 months of 2023, our total foreign trade volume has reached 23.1 billion dollars, 13.4 billion dollars export and 9.7 billion dollars import.

Ağar said, “I believe that this organisation will make a great contribution to the development of economic and commercial relations between Africa and our country. Despite all these negativities experienced at the global level and the great earthquake disaster we experienced as a nation, our country’s economy grew by 3.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 and 3.8 per cent in the second quarter, increasing our growth performance to 12 uninterrupted quarters, and on an annual basis, it has demonstrated uninterrupted growth performance for 3 years.

255 billion dollars of exports will be realised

Ağar said, “Our country came as one of the 3 countries that increased its exports among the G-20 countries in the second quarter of the year. In this direction, our exports, which broke records by reaching 254.2 billion dollars in 2022, reached 164.9 billion dollars in the January-August period of 2023. We wholeheartedly believe that we will achieve our year-end Medium Term Programme (MTP) target of $255 billion in exports. The long-term upward trend in our exports is also the result of a qualitative transformation that focuses on added value and advanced technology.”

”We aim to increase the 26 per cent share of Islamic countries in exports to 30 per cent in 2028”

Giving figures for their targets, Ağar said, “We aim to increase our exports of goods to 302.2 billion dollars in 2026 in line with the recently announced OVP targets, which offer a road map for all actors in the economy in the coming period. With these targets and strategies, by 2028, we will increase our service exports to 200 billion dollars, the share of global goods exports to 1.2 percent, the share of global service exports to 2.0 percent, the share of high and medium-high technology products in our exports from 36 percent to 50 percent, the share of SMEs in exports from 26 percent to 40 percent, and the share of e-exports in our total exports from 1.5 percent to 10 percent. On the other hand, with our Far Countries Strategy, we aim to increase our exports to these countries from 20 billion dollars to 80 billion dollars in line with the ‘Islamic Countries Export Development Strategy’, and we aim to increase the 26 percent share of Islamic countries in our exports to 30 percent in 2028.”

After the opening speeches, gifts were presented, and after the family photo shoot, the forum continued with B2B meetings.