Turkey-Sudan trade volume ups 315 pct

Turkey's trade volume with Sudan has risen by 315 percent since 2003, Turkish Minister Eker said yesterday visiting Sudan, once the largest state in Africa. The Turkish Minister of Agriculture Mehdi Eker met with his Sudanese counterpart Halim Ismail Al-Mutaafi on Tuesday, as an effort to boost the two countries' economic relations. Turkey's trade volume with Sudan reached $290 million in 2013, from $70 million in 2003, Minister Eker said during a visit to attend the Turkey-Sudan Joint Economic Committee (JEC) in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. "We are not satisfied with the trade volume between the two countries. Our strategy is to increase it much more," Eker said, according to a statement released by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Livestock. In addition to trade relations between the two countries, industry, energy, mining, agriculture, construction and education are included in the summit's agenda. A bilateral agricultural cooperation deal is expected to be signed by the Turkish and Sudanese governments. Sudan is Turkey's 11th largest trade in Africa and 6th among the Sub-Saharan Countries by 2012 according to data by Turkey's Ministry of Economy.