More Gabon trade likely: Erdoğan

LIBREVILLE - Anatolia News Agency

Economic relations between Turkey and Gabon are recovering and promise larger potential, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said during a speech to Turkish and Gabonese businessmen at a forum held in Cite de la Democratie, a neighborhood in Libreville.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, a large Turkish business mission and members of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TİM) and Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON) are accompanying Erdoğan during a six-day African tour that will arrive in Niger today.

Erdoğan noted that ties between the two countries will advance, as he selected his first destination abroad in 2013 to be Gabon. Adding that the global recession during 2007-2010 influenced the mutual trade, decreasing figures, he said in 2011 the trade between Turkey and Gabon started to develop. “In the first 11 months of 2012, the trade volume was $41 million. When December’s figures come in, we can say that 2012’s figures will be over 2007’s. We all know that both countries have much more potential. In this new period, we will work harder and improve our cooperation in every field of work,” Erdoğan said.
The president met with Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba and Prime Minister Raimond Ndong Sima.