The third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit is ongoing in Istanbul under the auspices of Presidency of the Turkish Republic

The two-day summit comes fast on the heels of a top-level business forum in October that focused on investment and trade.

The gathering will ensure that the strategic ties between Turkey and African countries are carried forward to a new stage.

Meeting on the summit is on the theme: joint development and enhanced cooperation for prosperity, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said turkey wants to assist Africa in achieving success. «Our aim is to win with Africa and walk to the future together.”

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held a series of meetings with leaders and senior officials on the sidelines of the event.

The Africa-Turkey partnership was formalized in the 2008 Istanbul Summit, during which two outcome documents were adopted, namely the Istanbul Declaration and the Framework for Cooperation.

Félix Tshisekedi, current chair of the African Union, Senegal’s Macky Sall, Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo, representing Ecowas, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa and Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria were present at the summit.

Leaders and top ministers from 39 countries, including 13 presidents witnessed the summit, which will climax on Saturday December 18.