Trilateral Co-operations in Africa to Be Strengthened With Ifm

Turkish global firms operating in different sectors across the World creates unique comparative advantage for partnership with the third parties. Turkey is not a competitor but an integral part of the global production chains. Hence, trilateral economic co-operation developed through dialogue with the third parties that identifies possible areas of complementarities can help win- win outcomes, particularly in Africa. Turkey is mainly active in infrastructure development, manufacturing, services and agriculture which creates opportunity for greater co-operation with the Chinese and Western countries, there. Exploring trilateral co-operation and deepening mutually beneficial partnerships requires a clear definition of common ground for all sides. This can not be done properly if guiding data is unavailable which proves to be very problematic in some places in Africa. Furthermore, some of the shortcomings in achieving trilateral co-operation indicate an urgent need for improving institutional capacity and specific educational gap in Turkey. Funding and availability of credits are also crucially important. However, more fundamental issue appears to be the creation of financial mechanisms through which trilateral relations in Africa can be developed. In this regard, I opine that having Istanbul Financial Center further developed and made more operationally efficient can ease up trilateral dialogue and co-operation.