Ethiopia-Türkiye Trade and Business Forum

27 May 2024 - MÜSİAD

Distinguished participants,

Esteemed business people, Dear MÜSİAD Family,

Esteemed representatives of the business world,

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

I respectfully greet you all…

Welcome to our Ethiopia-Türkiye Trade and Business Forum programme; you have honoured us with your presence…

Distinguished guests,

The foundations of MÜSİAD were laid exactly 34 years ago, with the abundance of Anatolia and with the power of sharing and labour. The establishment of MÜSİAD was the sign of a return to our essence and our roots. At the same time it was a sign of the understanding of the Medina Market, of justice and of lawful earnings…

For 34 years, under the roof of MÜSİAD, we have carried out a great many beneficial works both for our country and for our people. While carrying the strength we draw from Anatolia to the four corners of the world, we have never compromised our ideals or our essence.

Because we, as members of MÜSİAD, share a very important ideal. Although MÜSİAD is fundamentally a community of business people, in terms of its work, its thought, its principles and the values it defends it is a voluntary civil society organization that carries the strength of the people of Anatolia to the whole world.

And so MÜSİAD, within the framework of these great humanitarian ideals, continues to strengthen its sphere of influence with its branches and representative offices in every corner of the world. Today it is known for representing 60 thousand enterprises with more than 14 thousand members at home and abroad, and for providing employment to approximately 2 million people. With 85 contact points at home and up to 100 abroad, it serves in a total of 81 countries.

Distinguished guests,

The multidimensional foreign policy approach our country has adopted, particularly over the last 20 years, is leading Türkiye to open up to regions that were neglected in the past. We may state that the most successful of these openings has been the one towards the African countries.

Türkiye, which has been an Afro-Eurasian country from the Ottoman period to the present day, has entered a new era with the African countries in recent years, when economic and political balances have shifted and new powers have emerged, and particularly as of 2005. In this context, the declaration of 2005 as the “Year of Africa” and the “Türkiye-Africa Partnership Summit” held in 2008 have been very important turning points.

The relations Türkiye has established with the African countries, above all on the plane of brotherhood, the commercial organizations that have been developed and, alongside these, humanitarian aid activities have paved the way for a healthy development of relations among the actors.

Türkiye will continue to share its own historical experience, its social, political and cultural accumulation and the means and resources it possesses with African administrations and peoples within the framework of the principle of “African

solutions to African problems” and on the basis of mutual benefit. This understanding forms the foundation of our partnership policy.

Therefore, the African continent occupies a very important place for us. We have brothers in Africa, and as MÜSİAD we are working to win together with our brothers in Africa. It is with this principle that we will work together, develop together and, God willing, win together.

Distinguished participants, most esteemed guests,

Among the African countries, Ethiopia is foremost among those with which we have developed our cultural, humanitarian, political and economic relations. Türkiye-Ethiopia relations, whose first diplomatic contacts began in 1896 with mutual delegations in the periods of Sultan Abdülhamid II and Emperor Menelik II, have recorded significant progress in economic terms in recent years.

Trade between Türkiye and Ethiopia has always continued at a certain level. The trade volume between the two countries has followed a fluctuating course over the years, accelerated in particular as of 2015 and peaked in 2016 with a bilateral trade volume of USD 450.2 million.

When we look at more recent dates, we see that as of 2023 Türkiye made annual exports of USD 306.9 million to Ethiopia, while imports from Ethiopia in the same period stood at the level of USD 37.3 million.

While there was no measurable direct investment in our country by companies with Ethiopian capital in the 2002-2023 period, in the same period the total direct investments made in Ethiopia by companies with Turkish

capital amounted to USD 23 million.

These figures we have mentioned indicate that economic relations are quite open to development for both countries. From this point of view we see great potential in trade between Ethiopia and Türkiye.

We know very well that economic relations between Türkiye and Ethiopia will continue to increase in the years ahead.

Distinguished guests,

Covering % 20 of the world’s surface area, % 60 of its arable land and % 30 of its mineral reserves, and with a population estimated to reach 3 billion in 2050, the African continent ranks first especially in terms of the proportion of its young population. In this respect Africa is also a candidate to become the rising power of the new world.

Ultimately, it is of considerable importance to us that our country continues with increasing momentum the policies it has pursued towards African countries over the last 20 years within the framework of a “win-win” understanding. And we, as MÜSİAD, always stand alongside our state in order to sustain this important effort.

Esteemed business people, distinguished guests,

Our MÜSİAD, whose very name has become identified with the sweat of the brow, has at all times continued on its way with a vision of a business world rising on the foundation of virtue, high morality, high technology and

trust. In this important cause of civilization that it pursues, it has always stood by what is right, by the righteous, by those who labour and those who strive.

Now, together with our brothers in Africa, we will continue to work with all our heart in order to carry the cause of the Medina Market to greater heights and to stand on the side of what is right and of the righteous.

Because we now need to write new stories.

As I conclude my speech, I wish that our Ethiopia-Türkiye Trade and Business Forum programme may be a means to goodness. I greet with respect and reverence all the business people who, with their efforts, their labour and the sweat of their brow, provide added value to the economies of the two countries…

May God protect you.

Mahmut Asmalı

President of MÜSİAD