On August 19, 2011, under the brilliant sun of Africa, the plane carrying then prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his family and a large delegation composed of the different segments of Turkish state and society landed in Mogadishu.

This was one of the first international flights destined for Somalia after a very long interval. This flight turned the course of events in that country.

It was a land that had been in turmoil for decades, with chronic instability and prolonged social strife creating a serious humanitarian crisis, coinciding with severe drought and famine.

That day, a new partnership was born out of the ashes of civil war and humanitarian disaster. From that time onwards, the Turkish and Somali peoples have been striving shoulder-to-shoulder to ease the situation and to rebuild the country. The phoenix is now ready to rise from the ashes and spread its wings: We are talking about the revival of social, economic and political life in Somalia.

Turkey has been working for more change not only in Somalia, but in Africa as a whole. “Africa belongs to Africans, we are not here for your gold,” said prime minister Erdogan when he addressed the parliament of Gabon in January 2013.

Turkey has never been in a colonial relationship with the continent. On the contrary, African nations looked for help from the Ottomans in their struggle against colonial oppressors.

Furthermore, it is known that our War of Independence, which we fought close to a century ago under the able leadership of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, has had a strong influence on the African peoples in their struggle for liberation. Echoes of this past were been heard everywhere when the Turkish Navy made port visits in 24 African nations.

Turkey has never been indifferent to developments in Africa. History has brought the Turkish and African peoples together, created an affinity among them and allowed them to establish strong ties. We have always been in solidarity with the African peoples in their righteous struggle for freedom from colonialism.

Africa, with its virtue and wisdom distilled over centuries, with its young and dynamic population and vast natural resources is, above all, a continent of opportunity for its countries and peoples.

With this fact in mind, Turkey sees Africa as the cradle of humanity and the possible epicentre of the future of humanity. Indeed, we rejoice at the political, democratic, economic, social and cultural rejuvenation underway in so many African countries.

Turkey’s first diplomatic representation in sub-Saharan Africa goes back to the very beginning of the 20th century, the first Turkish consulate being established in 1912 in Harar, Ethiopia.

Today, channels of interaction and communication are vastly expanded with around 39 Turkish embassies across the continent and embassies of 32 African countries in Ankara.

Moreover, a large number of diplomatic missions is only one side of the coin. People-to-people contacts have also been gaining strength day by day. There are now thousands of people from Africa, studying, working and living in Turkey and vice versa. Turkish Airlines has become one of the major international carriers to the continent, flying directly to nearly 40 destinations.

There are ever growing Turkish investments in a number of African countries that employ local labour, use home-produced resources and export final products to third countries.

Turkish private businesses will be investing over $100 million in the coming two to three years in Mogadishu alone. In the past decade, our total trade with the sub-Saharan African countries increased tenfold.

Since 2005, the Year of Africa in Turkey, spurred by Turkey’s Open Policy towards Africa, there has been increased engagement with African countries. Turkey has become an important partner for development, trade and investment in Africa.

In 2013, Turkey ranked third in the world after the US and the UK in terms of total humanitarian assistance and first in terms of the ratio of its development assistance to its GNP, becoming the host nation of the first ever World Humanitarian Summit to be held in 2016.

Solidarity with African countries plays an important role in this achievement. We have accomplished almost all the goals we set out to realise following the Turkey-Africa Co-operation Summit of 2008.

Turkey’s Open Policy towards Africa is now successfully completed. We embarked upon a new policy in 2013: The Turkey-Africa Partnership Policy, which takes the motto of “African issues require African solutions” as its main principle.

In the Second Africa-Turkey Partnership Summit to be held in Malabo from 19-21 November, we will lay out the groundwork for the next four years. The theme of the Summit is “A New Model for Partnership for Strengthening of Sustainable Development and Integration of Africa.” We will agree on new milestones and objectives in our common quest for further co-operation in the interests of both sides. We will adopt two documents during the Summit: The Declaration and the Joint Implementation Plan for 2015-2018.

As part and parcel of this new Partnership Policy, we pursue a multi-layered approach in Africa. We establish close political relations by intensifying bilateral high-level visits and, by acting as the voice of Africa to advocate the rights and the positions of African nations both at bilateral and multilateral fora.

We partner with African nations in the economic sphere to overcome their challenges through more trade, investment and humanitarian assistance. Moreover, whenever requested, we stand ready to play our role through diplomacy to contribute to the peaceful settlement of conflicts and disputes.

We do not consider ourselves as outsiders to the continent, rather a strategic partner working together to make further advances in the areas of democracy, good governance and prosperity.

Turkey will remain committed to fully supporting the African Union in achieving its goals in the priority areas, which will further consolidate African ownership of African issues. That is why we feel that it is a privilege for Turkey to be a strategic partner of the rising continent of Africa.

Mevlut Cavusoglu is Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey