Somalia and Turkey inked trade deals aimed at boosting an already thriving economic bilateral ties between the two countries.
According to Somali Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Ahmed Gulaid the two countries signed a cooperation protocol during the inaugural meeting of a Joint Economic Commission (JEC), noting that Mogadishu was open to foreign investment and ready to boost trade cooperation with all friendly countries.
Gulaid noted that the objective of the JEC is to translate the number of memorandums of understanding signed between the two countries into reality with immediate priority being to open Turkish markets for Somali products such as dry lemon, sesame and banana.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that revitalizing the Horn of Africa country’s economy was one of the top priorities of the Somali government.
Somalia and Turkey had previously signed trade agreements in areas such as energy, mines, electricity, higher education, agriculture, and fisheries.
Turkey’s investment in Somalia is more than 100 million U.S. dollars, predicting that the bilateral trade volume could rise to 200 million dollars from about 120 million dollars in 2016 Gulaid added.
