On April 2, 20014, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu addressed the Group of Friends Meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations, held under the theme “Peace as a Path to Sustainable Development” as a part of his visit to New York where he holds meetings with UN circles.

Stating that the Alliance of Civilization which is co-sponsored by Turkey came a long way in a limited time, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said that the Alliance has strengthened and deepened and its activities has become more important in this process.

Emphasizing that Turkey is one of the advocates of peace and development which reinforce each other, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said “There is no peace without sustainable development and there is no sustainable development without peace”.

Stating that within the UN’s Alliance of Civilizations, tolerance and understanding which are acknowledged as vital for prosperity are encouraged and this, in turn supports development, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said “Without peace, stability, rule of law and good governance we cannot provide prosperity for our people.”

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu underlined that Turkey has made efforts to invest in the constant tie between peace and development through the past years and said “Turkey has become a robust supporter of the Least Developed Countries and has argued that underdevelopment should not be a destiny of any country”.

Noting that Africa from now on has been re-emerging with promising developments, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu pointed out that in the last 10 years the continent has achieved an average annual growth of more than 5 percent and this trend is expected to continue in forthcoming years. “I am pleased with my country’s modest contribution to this development trend through trade, investment and humanitarian assistance” said Foreign Minister Davutoğlu.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu also stated that in 2012 Turkey’s total development assistance was approximately 3,5 billion dollars, 2,5 billion dollars of which was allocated by public institutions as official development assistance.