Speaking to Turkey’s most prominent businessmen and company representatives at a trade and investment forum organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) in İstanbul, Ondimba said, “While diversifying our partners, we see Turkey, which has experienced speedy and strong growth, has the ability to assist us with our needs and targets of industrialization. I want to confirm my commitment to the development of Gabon and I ask Turkish investors to help me to prove my commitment.”

He explained Gabon can become a strategic hub by enabling access to markets in neighboring countries and with the implementation of concrete projects, the relationship between the two countries can become sustainable.

Prominent businessmen such as Çukurova Holding CEO Mehmet Emin Karamehmet and Renaissance Construction Chairman Erman Ilıcak as well as Eser Group CEO İlhan Adiloğlu , Akfel Group CEO Fatih Baltacı, Levent Saha from Koç Energy, Ahmet Beyaz from Bank Asya, deputy CEO of Turkish Airlines Ahmet Polat were among the participants at Thursday’s forum.

Stating that Gabon has rich oil and natural gas sources as well as mining opportunities in addition to hydraulic power generation potential, the African country’s head of state stressed that it has made many reforms to attract investment. “We have eased the process of establishing companies, obtaining real estate and land, provided tax incentives increased budget for investors, and our credit rating went up from BB- to BB. But Gabon won’t settle with this much and wants to complete its country-wide infrastructure development project by 2016 in order to attract more investment,” he said.

Adding that his country currently needs 200,000 residential units as well as construction of hospitals, he said projects such as Port Mole, Champ Triumphal and Omni Sports Complex are waiting for investors. Speaking to Anatolia news agency, businessman Karamehmet said they are interested in oil and natural gas exploration in all of Africa. His Genel Energy is already operating two oil fields in Northern Iraq.

TUSKON President Rızanur Meral pointed out that Gabon has major electricity needs and suggested Turkish businessmen take advantage of this opportunity. When Turkish businessmen asked how much electricity would be needed, Meral responded “infinite,” and explained Africa has very high energy needs which will bring high returns to companies and the investors can even supply other African countries with hydraulic energy that can be produced in Gabon.

Gabon representatives also expressed they are also very open to agricultural investments and food production to ensure the country’s food security and sell goods to neighboring countries. They said 700,000 hectares of land is available for investors. Turkish-Gabonese bilateral trade was only at $35,000 last year, with a great majority of it being in Turkish exports to the African country.