Turkish business delegation visits Mali to boost trade

ISTANBUL

Officials from Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) paid a visit to Mali, a West African country, seeking to bolster bilateral trade and investment relations, a DEIK official said on Friday.

In a written statement, Fatih Altunbas, the head Turkey-Mali Business Council of DEIK, noted that Turkey's exports to Mali were $55 million, while imports from the African country were $20 million in 2018.

"Our bilateral trade volume was $75 billion in 2018, we import mostly cotton, gold and aluminum, and export iron, cement and food products," Altunbas said.

He added: "Our target is raising the trade volume between the two countries to high-level, we are in here for this goal."

The 15-person delegation -- from defense, construction, electronic, information technologies sectors -- visited the capital Bamako between April 16-18.