Your Excellency, Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Turkey;

Your Excellency, Mr. Christophe Lutundula Apala Pen Apala, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chairperson of the AU Executive Council;

Your ExcellenciesMinisters and Heads of Delegation;

AU Commissioners, Representatives of AU organs and Regional Economic Communities;

Your Excellencies Ambassadors and Heads of Missions;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I great each and every one of you.

I am honored to address this meeting on the occasion of this important Turkey – Africa Ministerial Meeting. Our meeting is taking place in a very particular global context characterized by the Covid-19 pandemic and its subsequent consequences of disruption of all aspects of human endeavor. The fact that this Ministerial Meeting is taking place physically, despite all the panic orchestrated, is once again a testimony of the strong relations between Africa and Turkey. As the saying goes: “hard times will always reveal true friends”.

I would like therefore to begin my intervention by expressing our sincere gratitude to the Government and the people of this beautiful country, the Republic of Turkey, for the generous hospitality and for all efforts made to ensure the success of our Meetings.

I would like also to assure you, dear honorable host that notwithstanding all the difficulties, Africa remains determined to face all the challenges and to resolutely play its part in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. As it has clearly appeared since the beginning of this pandemic, no one will win the fight against the virus alone. The world will be safe until the last person is vaccinated. This then arises the importance of promoting and strengthening international cooperation in the health sector, particularly in the acquisition, manufacturing and distribution of vaccines and related pharmaceuticals.

Seven years after the Second Africa – Turkey Summit held in 2014, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, We are today to prepare for our Heads of States and Government Summit, which will take place tomorrow 18 December 2021.

As you may recollect, we adopted in Malabo a Five Year Implementation Plan of our Partnership for the period of 2015 to 2019 in the following main areas: (i). Institutional Cooperation; (ii) Trade and Investment; (iii) Agriculture, agribusiness, rural development, water resources management, and small and medium scale enterprise; (iv) Health; (v). Peace and security; (vi). Conflict resolution and mediation; (vii). Migration; (viii). Infrastructure, energy, mining and transport; (ix). Culture, tourism and education and finally (x). Media, information and communication technologies; (xi). Environment; and finally (xii). Youth and sport.

The legitimate and tough question that we will have to ask ourselves is; what have we achieved in all these twelve areas of Cooperation?

In this regard, I would like to recognize the commendable work done by our experts, at the African Union Commission together with their Turkish counterparts, in developing a comprehensive Implementation Report with specific details of what has been achieved at multilateral and at bilateral levels.

The Implementation Report will help us to reflect on our partnership and make recommendations to our Heads of States and Government on how to reinforce our cooperation based on tangible results, taking into consideration the spirit of mutual interests and win-win cooperation. We must also ensure that our Partnership focuses on few areas of cooperation to ensure that we deliver tangible results for the continent of Africa and its people.

Allow me to recognize the remarkable efforts exerted by the participants from both sides, during the Joint Senior Officials Meeting held yesterday, in preparing our Session today. I have no doubt on their commitment and we will all benefit from their wisdom and guidance, which allow us to avoid lengthy debates.

As I conclude my brief remarks, permit me also to recognize the effective presence of the Ministers and Heads of delegation from the continent, despite their busy schedules. Your participation, Your Excellencies, in such a difficult time, shows the importance you accord to the strengthening and deepening of our relation with Turkey.

As I conclude, I would like therefore to assure Your Excellencies, of the commitment of the African Union Commission to support the implementation of the decisions taken together with our Turkish partner to ensure that the Africa – Turkey Partnership delivers for the implementation of the AU Agenda 2063, the Africa We Want, in the spirit of true partnership.

I will end here and wish us all a fruitful and successful Joint Turkey – Africa Ministerial Meeting 

I thank you for your kind attention.