By: Nyima Sillah
Bai Lamin Jobe, minister of trade, industry and regional integration has said country data shows bilateral trade volume between Turkey and The Gambia has been on the rise for the past decade.
Mr Jobe was speaking at Gambia- Turkey business forum on Wednesday, saying the two nation’s relationship on trade reached $2 million USD in 2000, $ 21 million USD in 2011, $36 million USD in 2012 and $38 million USD in 2017.
The first Turkey-Gambia Business forum is jointly organized by The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the foreign economic relations board – DEIK and the Gambian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Regional Integration & Employment.
According to him, currently Turkish clothing and home textile industries have had a significant role in the world’s clothing and home textile markets.
“We understand that in Turkey, the apparel sector is the second biggest sector following the automotive sector.
The clothing and textile industry are largely based on cotton and domestic output does not fully meet demand, which makes Turkey the world’s third-largest cotton importer.
“Meanwhile, about 8% of the cotton traded in the world market is harvested in Sub-Saharan Africa which has much more planting capacity with a competitive advantage due to AGOA- the duty-free access of exports to the large US market,” he said.
He said The Gambia have 43.5% arable land as a share of land area, and in the past cotton used to be the second cash crop after groundnuts, thus work has already began in reviving the sector starting in the Upper River Region (URR) considering that the country main cash crop has lost its value in the international market.
“We are hence promoting the production of cotton, cashew, sesame and horticulture; as well as light manufacturing and ICT. I believe that in this regard, Turkey can provide technology and vocational education to increase this percentage and gain mutual benefit,” he said.
He pointed out that the fact that Turkey has taken into account Africa’s development agenda, while charting the future course of engagement speaks volumes about Turkey’s strong desire to be relevant to Africa’s needs and make the partnership more meaningful
He also stated that since the first Turkey-Africa Summit in 2008, Turkey’s blend of development package, technology transfers, human resource development and infrastructure development has contributed to Africa’s resurgence.
“The two documents Istanbul Declaration 2008 and Framework for Cooperation that were adopted at the said summit in Istanbul in 2008 reflected on the political, security and socio-economic issues,” he said.
“Now that the leaders have talked the talked, the business leaders have to walk the talk by taking advantage of the trade and investment opportunities in Africa and Turkey with a combined population of over 2 billion consumers,” he added.
He further stated that government of The Gambia has embarked on serious reforms to continue to enhance country competitiveness and increase in-flow of foreign investment in The Gambia economy.
He revealed that some of the key reforms include developing a new Investment Policy 2018, strengthening the Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA) by reviewing and updating the GIEPA Act 2015 to respond to the changing needs of investors more favorably to enhance country competitiveness.
Turkey Minister of Customs and Trade Mr. Ruhsar Pekan, said this is a laudable initiative towards bringing together business leaders from the two countries and is part of continuing efforts to widen and deepen trade and investment ties.
He commended The Gambia government for hosting the forum and calls for strengthening of business between Banjul and Ankara.