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A trade delegation made up of Turkish businesspeople is set to visit Côte d’Ivoire as part of a program aimed at expanding trade and exploring new business and investment opportunities, according to information compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA).
The program, scheduled to begin on Tuesday, will run through Dec. 18 in Abidjan, the country’s largest city.
During the visit, bilateral business meetings are expected to be held across multiple sectors.
The meetings will focus on increasing market share in bilateral trade and creating new business and investment opportunities.
Sectors to be covered include construction and building materials, automotive and spare parts, metal, machinery, paper, furniture, energy, packaging, food, information technologies, textiles, health, chemicals, cosmetics and plastic products.
Trade relations between Türkiye and African countries have expanded rapidly over the past 22 years, becoming a priority area in Türkiye’s foreign economic policy.
In 2003, Türkiye adopted strategies aimed at strengthening trade and economic relations with African countries, encouraging investment and promoting technology transfer.
As a result of these efforts, Türkiye’s trade volume with African countries reached $37 billion by the end of last year.
The target is to raise this figure to $50 billion by 2028 through continued high-level contacts and trade delegations.
According to data from the Trade Ministry, trade between Türkiye and Côte d’Ivoire has been on an upward trend since 2001.
Bilateral trade volume reached $813 million last year, marking a 37.6% increase compared to 2023. The current target for bilateral trade is $1 billion.
Türkiye’s leading export item to Côte d’Ivoire last year was oils obtained from petroleum and bituminous minerals, totaling $35.2 million.
Cement followed with $14.3 million, while machinery used for mixing, crushing, and molding materials such as soil, stone and metal amounted to $14.2 million.
During the same period, Türkiye’s main imports from Côte d’Ivoire included cocoa beans and fragments worth $295.5 million, followed by natural rubber at $156.7 million and cocoa paste at $44.3 million.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Côte d’Ivoire in 2016 marked the first visit at the presidential level from Türkiye, contributing to the acceleration of trade relations and the signing of several agreements.
Côte d’Ivoire is emerging as an important trade hub in sub-Saharan Africa.
It ranks second in West Africa after Nigeria in terms of trade volume with Türkiye and first among French-speaking countries.
The country offers investment opportunities for Turkish investors, particularly in the construction, automotive, cosmetics and textile sectors, including projects ranging from social housing to cement production facilities.
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