Past, present, and future of economic relations between Türkiye and West African countries

With the Berlin West Africa Conference held between 15 November 1884 and 26 February 1885, a large part of West Africa was left to France. As of the second half of the 20th century, the countries in the region gradually started to gain their independence. However, in the post-independence period, commercial relations between West African countries and Türkiye did not start immediately. Although they varied from country to country, commercial relations, which generally started in the 1980s, gained momentum especially after 2000 when Türkiye started to take important steps towards the African Continent. Accordingly, the African Action Plan was adopted in 1998, 2005 was declared the "Year of Africa", business councils were established and Türkiye-Africa Partnership Summits and Business and Economic Forums were organised. Within the framework of these developments, Türkiye's interest in West Africa, which has started to get closer to the countries of the region commercially, is built on a basis of mutual economic interests. In line with these explanations, this study analyses the trade relations and especially Türkiye's investments in the region over a period of approximately fifty years. As a result of these analyses, some suggestions have been made for the development of trade and investment relations between Türkiye and West African countries