It is a bank established in order to develop cooperation among independent African countries. African Development Bank, abbreviation of which is AFDB, was founded in September 10th, 1964. Donald Kaberuka has been performing presidency of AFDB which was founded for the purpose of granting loans for economic and social development of African countries.
The organization did not accept members from outside Africa with respect to avoiding “Neocolonialism” effects in the early years; however, by setting up African Development Fund which was open to non-African countries and was a subsidiary company to the bank, it opened doors to foreigners in 1972. The organization made it possible for member countries to get low interest loans via the fund. In 1982, with the help of an amendment made on bank’s status, non-African countries were granted membership rights. AFDB made contributions to African countries’ process of achieving their independence, their political and economic liberalization and foundation of economic structures and financial institutions in these countries.
Center, situated in Abidjan of Côte d’Ivoire, was moved to Tunisia because of the crisis that arose in this country. Currently, Tunisia continues its activities being in the position of Temporary Settlement Agency. Accepted countries are as follows; Countries in the Region: South Africa, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Maurice, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruanda, Sao Tome and Principe, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe Countries Outside the Region: Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Korea, China, Denmark, Spain, USA, Finland, France, India, Italia, Japan, Kuwait, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, England, Sweden, Switzerland.
Turkey’s Relations with the Organization
Economic and commercial relations among Turkey and countries located in the African continent have come a long way in the last years, and this progress has even gained acceleration through cooperative projects, high-profile visits, new economic and commercial agreements and mutual trade delegation visits conducted aiming not only North African countries but also especially Sub-Saharan African countries. This situation makes it necessary for our country to be a member of African Development Bank (AFDB), which plays an important role in realization of these projects, in order to make it possible for especially our construction companies to get a share in extensive infrastructure projects handled in Africa. Our country’s membership to AFDB was first brought into agenda during the Tunisia visit of Abdullah Gül who was the current Foreign Affairs Minister in 2006.
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