Turkey to open embassy in Accra

Political pg 14 Feb. 7, 2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

TURKEY, one of the fastest growing economies in Europe will re-open its embassy in Accra early next year after more than a decade of closure.
The move is intended to among other things, improve trade relations and strengthen economic ties between the people and government’s of the two countries.
The out-going Ambassador, Mr Hakan Okcal, announced this when he paid a fare-well call on the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, at the Castle, Osu, today.
Mr Okcal who is based in Abuja, Nigeria is leaving after a three-year duty tour as an ambassador in Nigeria with responsibilities for Ghana.
He said the relationship between Ghana and Turkey had reached a high pedestal for which his country had deemed it most opportune to re-open its embassy in Ghana to take advantage of the opportunities.
“We had to close our embassy in Ghana many years ago for reasons we will not want to remind ourselves of; But we are more than poised to do so now”,, he said.
According Mr Okcal it was the intention of the Turkish government to open 10 embassies on the continent as part of efforts of his government to revitalise the relationship between Turkey and the countries on the African continent.
He said Africa was a key partner to the rest of the world and Turkey would not sit back for allow that to slip by.
Mr Okcal used the occasion to also announce the intention of the Turkish President, Mr Adbullah Gul, to partake in the up-coming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) conference in the country in April.
The conference, one of the biggest occasions on the Ghanaian calendar for the year is expected to see more than 50 heads of government across the world participating.
He called for Ghana’s support in Turkey’s bid to host the 2015 World EXPO in the city of Izmir, one of the finest cities in the world.
With Izmir as the present favourite to host the 2015 EXPO, Milan, Italy and Seoul, South Korea are also keen on winning the support of the world to be hosts to one of the biggest events in the world.
He said Turkey had a lot to showcase to the world and was poised to use the EXPO to launch itself as a strong partner in terms of trade to Ghana and Africa adding that “this will be our first time as compared to our competitors”.
Alhaji Mahama on his part, welcomed the intention of Turkey to re-open its embassy in Accra and other parts of the continent.
He said the two countries stood a greater chance to co-operate in the area of ICT, agriculture among others.
Alhaji Mahama said Ghana would consider the proposals presented to it by Turkey to host the EXPO 2015 and make its position known to it in due course.