The 11th WCI Forum, Türkiye's largest international trade forum focused on Africa, was held this year on October 16-17 at the Istanbul Wow Convention Center. The Forum, which brought together more than 1,500 business people from 54 African countries with more than 500 SMEs from Türkiye, was opened by Minister of Trade Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat.
In addition to Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, the Forum was attended by Minister of Roads and Highways of the Republic of Ghana Francis Asenso-Boakye, Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) Ahmet Güleç, Deputy Chairman of MUSIAD Davut Altunbaş, Vice Chairman of the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters' Association (İHKİB) Mustafa Paşahan, Chairman of the Jewelry Exporters' Association Burak Yakın, Chairman of the Machinery Manufacturers' Association Salim Emre Gencer, Chairman of the WCI Forum Executive Board Abdulkadir Develi and many other business people.
This year, the WCI Forum made its debut with the slogan “Invest in Africa, invest in the future”. B2B business meetings were held for 2 days at the forum, while products and services of Turkish and African manufacturers and exporters were also introduced.
Record Participation in the WCI Forum
WCI Forum President Utku Bengisu stated that there was a record level of participation in the 11th WCI Forum held this year. Bengisu said, “We hosted more than 1,500 business people from African countries in Istanbul. The opening with the participation of our Minister of Trade Prof. Dr. Ömer Bolat was an important development for the forum. The biggest difference of this year’s event from the others was that business people came to our forum not only from the big countries of Africa, but also from regions that are hard to reach. We also hosted visitors from strong economies with a large African diaspora, such as France and the USA. In addition, we had participants for the first time from countries that Türkiye does not know much about, such as the Central African Republic and Madagascar.”
The trade volume between Africa and Türkiye Bengisu, who emphasized the importance of safe and sustainable trade in the development of the world, said, “Our trade volume with Africa has reached 35.5 billion dollars. However, our competitors are far above this figure. For example, the United Arab Emirates’ export volume to Africa alone is 55 billion dollars. During the forum, we tried to close this gap by increasing our cooperation. While motivating African business people to choose Türkiye, we aimed for Turkish companies to have a stronger presence in the African market. This year, we also hosted technology companies and conducted studies on whether we could take part in the transforming African market with zero-waste products.”
Future Plans of the WCI Forum: New Countries and Anatolia Meeting
Bengisu announced that the WCI Forum will be held in countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Tunisia next year. In addition, it is planned to further develop relations with the African diaspora by holding the “Anatolia and Africa Meeting” in Kayseri in the second half of 2025. Bengisu stated that they will also organize a forum in the USA.
