ISTANBUL, Turkey— Turkey will send
15 million
COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa, President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
announced on Saturday at a major summit of the continent's leaders, adding that
the low vaccination rates there were a blot on humanity.
اضافة اعلان
Ankara has invested heavily in developing
trade and diplomatic ties with the world's poorest continent during Erdogan's
rule as prime minister and then president since 2003.
Speaking to dozens of attending leaders and
ministers, Erdogan said Turkey would ship 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to
Africa, where cases are rapidly rising and vaccination rates are low.
"We are aware of the global injustice
in accessing the COVID-19 vaccine and Africa's unjust treatment," Erdogan
said.
"It is disgraceful for humanity that
only six percent of Africa's population has been vaccinated."
Turkey is developing its own vaccine, known
as Turkovac, which is in the process of receiving emergency use approval.
Following any authorization, it will be shared
with Africa, Erdogan said.
It was not immediately clear from his
remarks whether Turkey would first send some doses of the internationally
approved vaccines it was currently using, including those developed by
Pfizer-BioNTech.
"In order to contribute to the
resolution of this issue, within our means, we plan to share 15 million vaccine
doses in the period ahead," he said.
Soaring infection rates
The number of new infections in Africa has
shot up by 57 percent in the past week, according to AFP calculations based on
official figures.
South Africa is the hardest-hit country,
becoming one of the first in the world affected by the new
Omicron variant,
which is believed to be even more contagious than past coronavirus strains.
Erdogan said Turkey wanted to strengthen
relations with
Africa in a wide range of areas including health, defense,
energy, agriculture and technology.
"The real potential between us goes far
beyond the targets we have," he said.
In a final declaration, Turkey and African
countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in several fields, including health
"through further health sector investments".
"With the declaration we have accepted
at this summit and the joint action plan, we agreed on a road map to deepen our
relations," Erdogan told a closing media event.
Focus on trade
Trade between Turkey and Africa has grown in
the past 20 years from $5.4 billion to $25.3 billion last year.
And in the first 11 months of 2021, it had
reached $30 billion, Erdogan said.
Turkey has set an even higher target of
trade volume for the future: $75 billion.
Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu said the third Turkish-African summit — by far the largest to date — was being
attended by 16 African heads of state and 102 ministers, including 26 top
diplomats.
Erdogan also held one-on-one meetings with
African heads of state, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who have both expressed an interest in
Turkey's defense industry.
The next Turkey-Africa summit will be held
in 2026 in an unspecified African country.
Read more Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
