Lesotho Prime Minister Matekane’s Visit to Turkey
Expressing his great pleasure to welcome Matekane in Ankara, Yılmaz said: “The visit of the Prime Minister has a historical significance as the highest level visit of the Kingdom of Lesotho to our country. I believe that this important visit will be instrumental in strengthening our relations with Lesotho and increasing our high-level contacts in the future.”
Emphasising thatthe Kingdom of Lesotho has a great importance for Turkey in the Southern Africa region, Yılmaz expressed his satisfaction for the harmonious cooperation with Lesotho in both regional and multilateral platforms. Emphasising that Turkey’s commercial relations with African countries have developed on the basis of mutual understanding and win-win principles, unlike those who approach the region with colonialist mindsets, Yılmaz continued his words as follows:
- Turkey continues to contribute to the development of the African continent in every field on the basis of brotherhood.
- We are always in co-operation with our sister continent through our Turkish Airlines, which flies to more than 60 destinations in the continent, and our institutions such as TIKA, Maarif Foundation and Yunus Emre Institute.
- Our number of embassies, which was 12 in 2002, has increased to 44 today.
- Our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has visited 31 African countries so far and closely follows the successful implementation of our Africa Partnership Policy.
Stating that our goal of expanding our diplomatic network in Africa in the coming period includes Maseru, Yılmaz expressed that we are pleased to be informed about the intention of the Lesotho authorities to open an embassy in Ankara.
‘Our Goal is to Raise Our Trade Volume to 50 Billion Dollars’
Stating that while Turkey’s trade volume with African countries was 5.4 billion dollars in 2003, this figure increased to 37 billion dollars in 2023, Yılmaz said,“Our goal is to increase our trade volume with the continent to 50 billion dollars as soon as possible. Turkish investments in Africa have increased to $2.3 billion as of 2023 and the total value of Turkish investments has reached $10 billion.”
Stating that Turkish contracting companies undertook 1977 projects worth 91.6 billion dollars in Africa, Yılmaz said,“Our trade volume with Sub-Saharan African countries, which was 1.35 billion dollars in 2003, reached 12.4 billion dollars in 2023. Turkish contractors have undertaken 445 contracting projects totalling 26.7 billion dollars in this region.”
Stating that sufficient distance could not be taken in trade and investments with Lesotho in the past, Yılmaz stated that a new era will begin after the visit of Lesotho Prime Minister Matekane. Stating that they will accelerate their efforts to ensure that bilateral trade and investments reach their real potential, Yılmaz continued his words as follows:
- In the meetings we held with the Prime Minister on the occasion of the visit, we agreed to develop our relations in the fields of trade, agriculture, education, tourism and environment.
- We have a trade volume target of 50 million dollars in the first phase, but we believe that we can reach much higher levels in the long term.
- The Trade and Economic Cooperation (TEC) Agreement signed with Lesotho in 2016 constitutes the legal basis of our relations.
Yılmaz stated that they aim to complete the internal approval processes of the agreement in a short time and to establish the Joint Economic Commission mechanism as soon as possible after it enters into force. He also emphasised that the Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation, which is in the negotiation phase, would be finalised as soon as possible.
‘Our duty is to provide the necessary environment’
Stating that Lesotho Prime Minister Matekane‘s visit included intensive contacts with relevant institutions and field visits, Yılmaz said: “He stated that he had very positive impressions when he visited OSTİM. I think that this visit is very valuable in every field with Turkey. The round table meeting to be hosted by DEIK today will be useful in terms of discussing our mutual investment opportunities in detail. Our duty is to provide the necessary environment, but it is our business worlds that will go to the real result.”
Yılmaz reminded that TIKA operates in the African Continent with 22 representative offices and carries out social development projects in the Kingdom of Lesotho and stated that these projects and the development support to be provided to Lesotho will continue in the coming period. Reminding that 46 Lesotho students have been receiving education in Turkey with Turkish scholarships since 2009, Yılmaz said : “We wish to increase the number of Lesotho students with Turkish scholarships. These students are of great importance as they will serve as bridges between countries.”
Stating that they are pleased that the Lesotho government does not allow any FETÖ organisation in their country and is open to cooperation with Turkey on this issue, Yılmaz said that they would like to complete the work for the Turkish Maarif Foundation to take over a state school in the capital Maseru as soon as possible.
Yılmaz also emphasised the need to take bilateral relations with Lesotho to new heights by making full use of the existing opportunities and creating new mechanisms. He congratulated the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Mr Samuel Matekane, for his efforts to advance the cooperation between their countries and for his work for his own country, and expressed once again that Turkey is ready for cooperation in every field and has full political will.
Wishing the visit to be auspicious and fruitful for both countries, Yılmaz conveyed his love and greetings to the people of Lesotho, a friendly country known as the ‘Kingdom in the Sky’.
