Turkish president to pay new year's first visits to Ethiopia, Djibouti

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an will pay consecutive official visits to Ethiopia and Djibouti later this month, marking his first official visits this year.

A large delegation of ministers, bureaucrats and businesspersons will accompany Erdo?an during his visit to Addis Ababa on Jan. 22, when he will meet both with Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, while also co-chairing inter-delegation meetings, according to a statement posted on the official webpage of the presidency on Jan. 13.

On Jan. 23, Erdo?an and the accompanying delegation will proceed to Djibouti where he will hold talks with his counterpart, President Ismail Omar Guelleh, while also again co-chairing inter-delegation meetings.

Noting that business forums would be held during the visits in addition to reviewing of bilateral cooperation issues regional issues and developments in the African continent, the statement underlined how the Horn of Africa is ?the strategic gate of the continent which opens to the Middle East and the world.?

?Additionally, in regional aspect, it [the visits] will once more accelerate relations with its strategic partner African continent, which gradually gets deepened further each passing day,? said the statement.

Turkey currently has some 35 embassies in Africa, second only to France. About 15 opened in the last few years. The red Turkish flag flies, for instance, across Mogadishu, Turkish firms playing the lead role in post-war construction. In 2005, the number of Turkish embassies in the continent was 12.
Aliyev to Ankara

Ahead of his visit to the African continent, Erdo?an will host Azerbaijan?s President Ilham Aliyev in Ankara on Jan. 15.

On the occasion of...