ADDIS ABABA
Turkish Foreign Minister AhmetDavutoglu and Ethiopian counterpart Tedros Adhanom visited Anadolu Agency's newly-opened regional bureau in Addis Ababa on Friday.
The two ministers were welcomed by bureau chief Mohammed Taha Tawakel; head of the Turkish desk, Mehmet Kemal Firik; and the staff of the Arabic and English news desks.
Davutoglu, in Addis Ababa to attend the 22nd African Union Summit, congratulated AA on the inauguration of its new regional office in the Ethiopian capital.
Adhanom joined his Turkish counterpart in hailing the move.
"I would like to thank Turkey for selecting Addis Ababa to open the news service. I believe it can help strengthen Ethiopian-Turkish relations," he said.
"Since the regional office is in Addis Ababa, it will also strengthen African-Turkish relations," he added. "This is the right place to open the office, as Addis Ababa is the capital of Africa."
Asked what the future held for Turkey-Africa relations,Davutoglu noted that ties were developing "very quickly."
He pointed out that, since unveiling the Turkey-Africa Strategy at the 1st Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit in 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey had opened 23 new embassies throughout the African continent. "Now we have 35 embassies in Africa," Davutoglu said.
"Total [Turkish-African] trade has increased almost ten times and there's enormous Turkish investment in several countries in Africa," he went on to say. "Turkish Airlines now has the second largest number of destinations in Africa."
"And future prospects are even better," he said. "It is one of the leading relations in the 21st century."
For his part, Adhanom hailed the relationship between Addis Ababa and Ankara as "very strong," adding: "It's getting stronger by the day."
"Especially on the economic front in the past ten years, the progress is really immense," he said. "Trade and investment have really grown tremendously."
The minister stressed that his government was "very satisfied" with the current level of relations with Turkey. "But," he added, "we have to nurture it to its highest level."
"Turkish investments are one of the largest in Ethiopia," Adhanom said, noting that Turkish development projects in his country were "changing the lives of our people."
He went on to assert that AA's newly-opened regional office was sure to play a role in further enhancing existing relations between the two countries.
"I assure you that we'll do our best to help make your work easy," Adhanom told the new bureau's staff.
By Mohamed Taha Tawakel
englishnews@aa.com.tr
