President Erdoğan's Africa agenda From business to embassy-building

TURKISH President RecepTayyipErdoğan’s visit to Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar last week marked his third tour of sub-Saharan Africa in the past 12 months. He visited Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Guinea in February-March 2016; Kenya, Uganda and Somalia in June 2016 
The tour serves as a reminder that, despite Turkey’s growing domestic and regional problems, Africa remains a policy priority for Ankara.
Turkish Airlines, for example, will fly to 41 countries in Africa in 2017, giving it the largest network on the continent. Istanbul is consequently an important international transit point for Africans, assisted by a simple online visa regime and very competitive pricing of air tickets.
The number of Turkish embassies in Africa has also risen. In 2009, there were only 12 Turkish embassies in African countries, five of them in North Africa. There are now 39, an increase of 27 in just six years. In turn, 32 African countries have opened embassies in Ankara. Erdoğan, meanwhile, recently announced his intention to open an embassy in every African capital.