The World Cooperation Industries (WCI) Forum, a Turkish organization, is calling for collaboration between Turkish traders and their counterparts in Africa, with the goal of advancing growth in both regions.
Speaking at a brief launch that was held on Tuesday in Accra, the convenor of the group, Utku Bengisu, said the WCI is an international forum between Ghanaian, Turkish and West African traders.
According to him, the forum, which was introduced in 2017, is aimed at bridging the gap between Turkey and Africa.
“It is an international forum between Turkish exporters and creators and African traders, and our focus is to bridge the gap between Turkey and Africa, particularly Sub-Sahara Africa; it was founded in 2017,” he said.
He disclosed that their first organization was in Huntania and that their first ever business meeting was held in Turkey, followed by Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Ethiopia.
He said this time around they have decided to embark on this particular business meeting for two main reasons, namely to discover two opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa and also to promote the discovered opportunities in Turkey due to the large size of their economy.
“We want to discover two opportunities, especially in Sub-Saharan African countries’
economies and trade facilities; and we want to promote Sub-Saharan countries in Turkey because our country is very big and we have more than four million companies in Turkey. “You know, Turkey’s population is 85 million and the country is the 19th largest economy in the whole wide world and hence needs Ghana to collaborate with Turkey to reach different market environments,” he explained.
Mr. Bengisu noted that almost all European countries need Africa in one way or the other to be able to thrive, adding that the Forum is keen on partnering with entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses to assist them in growing by doing business with their Turkish counterparts.
He further revealed that Turkey has more than 4 million companies that are in need of trade partners from Africa and encouraged participants to be serious about the opportunity.
The two-day forum will be held at the Alisa Hotel in Accra on July 21 and 22, 2022, and will bring together 51 businessmen with multisectorial experience in construction, food, agriculture, textiles, footwear, automotive, machinery, health, FMCG, and services, among others.
