UNITED NATIONS - Turkey will grant 50 million USD to countries in Africa and inaugurate 10 new embassies across this continent in the next 5 years in an effort to support the development projects in the least developed countries of the world.
A meeting was held at UN HQ on Friday in order to review the results of UN`s "Least Developed Countries Ministerial Meeting" held in Istanbul between July 9th and 11th 2007.
Turkish MFA`s Coordinator for African Affairs Kenan Tepedelen, Turkey`s Permanent Representative to the UN Baki Ilkin, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Kemal Dervis and Turkish International Cooperation & Development Agency (TIKA) Chairman Musa Kulaklikaya delivered speeches at the meeting.
During his speech, Tepedelen said a total of 1.7 billion USD was granted from Turkey to the least developed countries in 2006. He said such figure doubled in 2007.
Announcing Turkey`s latest financial aid of 50 million USD to African countries, Tepedelen said such aid would be used for development projects for 5 years.
Meanwhile, Kulaklikaya said that Turkey`s trade with the least developed countries reached 1.2 billion USD and this figure would increase.
(DO-SOL)