Turkey jockeys with China for influence in Africa

Disir

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Sep 30, 2011
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ISTANBUL -- Much has been written in recent years on China's growing influence in Africa. But it has a challenger in Turkey, which, like China, is looking to expand its strategic and economic reach.

Turkish construction companies have recently bested Chinese rivals on big infrastructure projects, winning orders in Ethiopia and Rwanda. And Ankara has nearly as many embassies on the continent as Beijing.

Turkey, sitting astride Europe and Asia, will play an important role in the Belt and Road Initiative, which China hopes will forge stronger economic links between the two continents. Turkey has good relations with the emerging superpower, but that has not stopped it from competing vigorously with China in Africa.


Yapi Merkezi, a big Turkish construction company, has been building a 400km railway line in the Horn of Africa nation of Ethiopia since January 2015. The project "will change people's lives and contribute greatly to the fast-track development of Ethiopia," said Mustafa Ay, Yapi's deputy project manager in mid-February, as he stood in front of a bridge in the northern city of Kombolcha.

In 2012, Yapi won a $1.7 billion order to build the railway line, which features a 1,500 meter change in elevation, 51 bridges and 12 tunnels. Its competitors included state-run China Railway Group and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. The Istanbul-based company is due to complete the 270km first phase of the project for Ethiopia's national railway operator later this year.
Turkey jockeys with China for influence in Africa

Ya, you really don't think about Turkey's involvement at all.
 

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