Old Friends are Meeting for the Fifth Time to Open New Horizons

5th International Turkish - African Congress will be held between the dates of 19-21 November 2009 in Istanbul. Many statesmen, executives of think tank and civil society organizations, academicians, authors, artists, businessmen, experts and diplomatic representatives will be participating to this congress.

The main topic of the “5th International Turkish-African Congress“ held by the Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies (TASAM) has been determined as “The Role of Think Tank and Civil Society Organizations in the Development of Turkish and African Relations“.

Chairman of TASAM Süleyman ŞENSOY declares that “While Turkey maintains its relations with its Western partners within the scope of an understanding for multidimensional foreign policy, it has also been gaining remarkable improvements within the process of EU membership, and actualizing political and economical expansions in various regions within the concept of multi dimensionality which is an obligatory parameter of this new period“.

Stating that while Turkish state institutions support many projects aiming to resolve the problems of African countries, African countries evaluate Turkey as a sincere country that does not have a political agenda regarding themselves, Chairman ŞENSOY continues as “ “In order for the mutual visits and negotiations between Turkish and African statesmen to be more effective, relations should be intensified between civil society organizations and various activities that may bring about effective consequences should be carried out in different areas, and CSOs should get to know each other better. Therefore, decisions taken in summits will be easier to be generalized to the base of societies and more possible to be implemented“.

USTKIP COMMISSION MEETINGS WILL BE HELD

“The International Civil Society Organizations Development and Cooperation Platform“ (USTKIP) was established by the common declaration of the “Turkish-African CSOs Forum“ held by the participation of TASAM African Institution and 45 African countries, prior to the “Turkish-African Summit“ performed by the Presidency in the August of last year. This platform started the process of developing the communication and cooperation between CSOs by bringing together their knowledge and experiences together within the roof of USTKIP which helds many activities in various fields. The internet portal of the platform, in which the broadcast is being done in four languages, is www.ustkip.tasam.org. The first meetings of the commissions, which were decised to be established in the forum declaration of the Congress, will also be held“.


Assistant Director of TASAM African Institution, Ufuk TEPEBAŞ declares the aim of the 5th International Turkish-African Congress as “to closely follow the developments of Turkey and Africa, to analyse the information gained, to develop a consistent and implementable vision for a common future, to remove all the obstacles that are possible to occur and to evaluate the opportunities that will provide mutual benefits in the best way possible“.

The opening statements of the Congress will be presented by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Sudan Dr. Abdulhalim Ismail Al MUTAFI, Minister of Turkish Republic* Cevdet YILMAZ, Minister of Turkish Republic Faruk ÇELİK, Chairman of TIKA* Musa KULAKLIKAYA and Chairman of TASAM Süleyman ŞENSOY.

EXHIBITION IN THE CONGRESS “EXLIBRIS; AFRICAN COUNTRIES 2009“

Following the opening statements of the Congress, the exhibition of “Exlibris; African Countries 2009“ consisting of the Sculptor-Designer Reyhan ÇEZİK’s exlibris pieces for 54 African countries, the Curator of which is the adviser of the Chairman of TASAM Yalın ALPAY, will be opened. In the exhibition, the 54 exlibris pieces of the artist will be displayed.

INTENSIVE PARTICIPATION IS EXPECTED

Among the participants of the 5th International Turkish-African Congress which will be held between the dates of 19-21 November 2009 in Istanbul are: Makha Dado SARR from the United Nations African Economic Commission (UNECA), Hakan KARABALIK from the T.R. Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade, Lamin MANNEH from the African Development Bank, Dr. Amany ASFOUR from Egyptian Business Women Association (EBWA), Zuhal MANSFIELD from DEİK / Turkish- Egyptian Business Council, Theunis KEULDER from Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID), Prof. Labana LASAY’ABAR from Kinsasa University, Dr. Simon Mamosi LELO from CAFRAD, Nasuh MAHRUKİ from AKUT, Dr. Flore NDEMBIYEMBE from the Investigation Center for Health Promotion, Prof. Dr. İhsan KARAMAN from the Turkey branch of Doctors World Wide“, Jamillah MWANJISI from ANEW, Lawyer Engin URAL Turkish Environment Foundation, Khady DIAGNE from ENDA/ANEW, Keefa KAWEESA from ECOWIC, Zuki MIHYO from REPOA, Bathermy Tsafack TAGNY from WESDE, Dr. Matlotleng Patrick MATLOU from African Institute for South Africa (AISA), Saida AGREBI from Tunisian Mother’s Foundation, Fatima KARADJA from ANSEDI / ECOSOCC, Adeleke OMITOWOJU from the African Diaspora Forum, T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı African Coordinator of the Ministry of Foreign Affais of Turkish Republic, Ambassador Kenan TEPEDELEN, Dr. Taha Abdel-aleem TAHA from El-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies,TASAM Ankara Representative (R.) Ambassador Asst. Prof. Dr. Ali Engin OBA,Elhussein Abd Elgalil Mohamed YASSIN from FEPS, Prof. Dr. Melek FIRAT from the African Studies Research and Implementation Center (AÇAUM) of Ankara University, Barasa Edwin MANG’ENI from the African Peace Forum (APFO), Ali Said Omar İBRAHİM from the Center for Peace and Democracy (CPD), Dr. A. M. KAMBUDZI from the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) and Kenneth MPYISI from the International Security Studies Center (ISS).

In the first and second day of the Congress in which the main theme of " The Role of Think Tank and Civil Society Organizations in the Development of Turkish and African Relations" will be handled, the chairmanship of the session of “Economy and Development“ will be held by TASAM Vice Chairman (R) Ambassador Murat BİLHAN, the session of“Education and Health“ will be chaired by Tunisian Mother’s Association Saida AGREBI, the session of “Environment and Agriculture“ will be chaired by TASAM Board Member Prof. Dr. Vural ALTIN, the session of “Culture and Communication“ will be chaired by TASAM Ankara Representative (R) Ambassador Asst. Prof. Dr. Ali Engin OBA, the session of “Political Affairs“ will be chaired by Fatima KARADJA from ANSEDI/ECOSOCC and the session of “Peace and Security / Global Partnership“ will be chaired by Makha Dado SARR from the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA).

In the third day of the Congress, the USTKIP Commission Meetings will be held as two sessions during the day.

*Waiting for confirmation.

For more information

Çağla KURNAZ – 0212 635 61 51 / bilgi@tasam.org