Turkey enters the new African market with $ 185.5 billion in trade:

Egypt has been at the top of the list of African countries in the field of trade exchange with Turkey during the last nine years, i.e. between 2010 and 2019, according to what was published in the data of the Turkish Statistics Authority.

The value of Ankara's exports to Cairo increased to 3.3 billion US dollars, while Turkey imported from Egypt 1.8 billion dollars at the beginning of 2019.

In general, the volume of trade exchange between Turkey and African countries during the same period amounted to 185.5 billion dollars, 122 billion dollars of it, or 65 percent of the share of North African countries, "Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco".

Morocco ranked second in Africa, after Egypt in importing Turkey's goods and products with a value of 2.3 billion US dollars, while Libya ranked third with an import value of 1.9 billion dollars.

Why Egypt first?

Ankara and Cairo have economic relations that extend to the year 2005, when the free trade agreement was signed, which entered into force officially in March 2007.

This agreement allowed to raise the level of trade exchanges between the two countries to unexpected numbers, given that the economies of the two countries are closely related to each other as Egypt forms Turkey's gateway to Africa with the presence of many agreements concluded between the two sides to facilitate the manufacture of Turkish goods in Egypt and their export to the countries of the continent through the Suez Canal Which is a vital artery of the process.

The Egyptian market includes 110 million consumers, which is a very important figure for the disposal of Turkish products.

In addition, there are more than 3,500 Turkish citizens living in Egypt, most of whom run Turkish economic companies in Cairo.

Turkish imports from Egypt are plastic products, fertilizers, fibers, textile products, oil derivatives and organic chemicals, while Cairo imports from Ankara tractors, vehicles, fuel and mineral oils in addition to steel and iron.

Turkey and Africa ... fruitful openness

Turkey has devised a strategy of opening up to African countries for many years, but it has already embarked on it in 1998 by signing several partnership and cooperation agreements with many African countries, declaring in 2005 the "African Year" to support and strengthen political, economic and cultural relations with the countries of the continent.

She later founded the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Council DEIK, which is a joint bilateral business council with more than 42 countries on the continent of Africa.

In the year 2010, the Turkish-African strategic partnership document was adopted, which contributed significantly to deepening the Afro-Turkish relations and branching out their fields, which was later proven by the data of the Turkish Statistics Authority and the International Monetary Fund and the data of the Turkish Economic Relations Council, which confirmed the growth and prosperity of the relations between the two parties. And its steady march towards boosting the economy and investment.

These strong ties between Africa and Turkey have been translated in recent years by Turkey entering the circle of the four most-attended countries on the continent alongside China, Brazil and India.

The volume of Turkish investments in Africa has increased significantly, especially as it is considered one of the countries that "is witnessing rapid economic growth competing with the economies of the most powerful countries in the world."

And the value of Turkish investments in Africa reached 46 billion dollars before the coming year 2020, with an increase of 11 percent compared to the previous year.

The majority of Turkish investments in Africa were concentrated in Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia.

The value of Turkish exports to the brown continent during the past year reached 12 billion dollars, most of which are industrial products, the most important of which are cars, tractors, fuel, mineral oil, iron and steel.

Turkey also doubled its construction companies in Africa, which made it engage in several activities, the most important of which are infrastructure, construction of ports and roads, construction of dams, major stadiums and hospitals.

The activity of Turkish construction companies in the brown continent was reflected in the value of exports, which increased significantly, especially in the following materials: "Cement, Glass, Reinforcement Steel and Ceramic"

Turkey aims as well to raise the level of its economic relations with African countries in the coming years in order to continue the policy of openness that it launched at the beginning of the second millennium.