Türkiye says it is working to scale up its current $40 billion trade volume with Africa and its $1 billion bilateral trade volume with Nigeria.

Its deputy ambassador to Nigeria, Elif Durdu, said Türkiye was exploring ways to increase the Turkish-Nigeria trade volume to five billion dollars.

She noted that Türkiye and Nigeria are significant players in their respective regions, but their current trade volume did not reflect their potential.

Ms Durdu said records had shown that the two countries could offer much more regarding bilateral trade relations, adding that this could only be done by scaling up their trade ties.

She said Türkiye was already deliberately putting measures in place to attract massive Turkish investments to Nigeria and other African countries.

“Türkiye is striving to address this issue by increasing bilateral contacts, alongside attracting Turkish investments to Nigeria. Türkiye, through her Africa Partnership Policy, also aims to promote the trade volume with the African Continent.

“This is around a total of $40 billion as of 2024, and Nigeria plays a special role in that goal,” she said.

According to her, many Turkish companies already operate in Nigeria and fully engage in multimillion-dollar businesses and projects.

For instance, she said, Hayat Kimya, a Turkish company operating in Ogun, had invested about $200 million in producing chemical and hygienic products, toilet papers, and diapers.

Ms Durdu further said Ülker, another Turkish company, invested around $50 million in the production of biscuits and chocolates under the brand name Mcvitie’s.

The deputy ambassador added that Direkçi, a Turkish trading company, also invested about $22 million in Jigawa, Niger, Kano and Abuja.

“The main project areas of this company are farming, livestock, poultry and soya bean production.

“In addition, Turkish large-scale construction companies, along with the ones that are active in the energy sector, are willing to take part in important infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

“The total cost of completed construction projects of various Turkish companies in Nigeria is about 2.8 billion dollars,” she added.

(NAN)