Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit Ghana

Ms Nesrin Bayazit, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Ghana, has announced that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, will this year pay a state visit to Ghana. The visit is to strengthen the bilateral relation and enhance economic cooperation between the two nations. Ms Bayazit made the disclosure in Accra at a pre-departure session of a delegation from the World Trade Centre's (WTC), Trade and Investment Mission to Istanbul, Turkey. It was organised under auspices of the WTC Accra with the support of the Turkish Embassy in Ghana to brief delegates participating in the Trade and Investment Mission to Istanbul on the economic and cultural outlook of Turkey.

 Ms Bayazit lauded the organisers for choosing Istanbul for their first Trade and Investment Mission this year. She observed that Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world with a GDP of about $ 800 billion in 2012. She said Turkey has a successful economic performance, young population, qualified and competitive labour force, liberal and reformist investment climate, highly developed infrastructure, advantageous geographic position, low tax rates and incentives and large domestic market, as well as a customs union with the European Union since 1996.

The Ambassador said Turkey was playing a dynamic role towards resolving Ghana’s energy crisis (dumsor). Ms Bayzit said so far 18 economic agreements had been reached with the Government of Ghana, which were awaiting ratification and urged the delegation to take advantage of the program to woo Turkish investors into the country. Togbe Afede XIV, the Executive Chairman of WTC said the Centre was well positioned to support businesses and trade activities to attract investment and prosperity into the country.

He said the Centre was a member of the prestigious World Trade Centres Association in New York, which covered over 300 World Trade Centres operating in 100 countries. He said the Centre provided services such as conference facilities, trade fairs and exhibitions, trade missions, trade information services, market research and other miscellaneous services.

 Togbe Afede XIV said the Trade and Investment Mission was geared towards promoting international trade as a means of fostering global trade. He pointed out that most of the conflicts in many countries were over limited resources; stating that “If we can expand the wealth of many nations through trade, we can create wealth for all”. He recounted that the Centre had organised similar Trade and Investment Missions in past in countries such as Italy and Qatar. He urged members of the delegation to be well prepared to market Ghana to their Turkish counter parts.

The 20 member delegation would be leaving Ghana at the weekend for a five-day investment tour of Turkey. Mr Andrews Bright Mensah of Menjes Group of Companies and a member of the delegation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency expressed his joy to be part of the trip. He said it would enable him meet his Turkish counterparts who were into real estate industry and solar lighting.