Excellency President of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
Excellency President of the Republic of Djiboti,
Excellency High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a distinct honor and pleasure for me to participate in this landmark Conference co-hosted by Somalia and the European Union. At the outset, I would like to convey the best wishes of Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was regrettably not able to attend this Conference due to other engagements.

I wish to start my remarks by extending Turkey’s strong support andendorsement of the Somali Compact. We welcome the important role played bythe European Union and consider the Somali Compact as its testament. The Compact will certainly constitute the roadmap in peace and state buildingprocess in Somalia, as well as a blueprint in institutional and federal matters.

We understand that the Compact is a living document and will be constantly updated with the aim of identifying the policy framework priorities and the ways to reach its outcomes. Meanwhile, the government and the regional states and entities will work together to give final shape to their federation.

Excellencies,

In the past year, promising developments have taken place in Somalia, in which all of us have made a positive contribution. We would like to congratulate President Mohamud and his team who worked incessantly with patrioticdevotion, with very limited resources and without trained government cadres, to put the state system into order and accelerate the nation and state building processes.

Unfortunately, despite all its recent progress, Somalia still risks setbacks. The fragility of the security and political situation makes clear the urgency of rebuilding and restructuring Somalia’s security forces, as well as supportingAMISON financially and materially in order to step up the fight against Al Shabaab. Attacks against all of us, who are in Somalia to assist the people and its government, send a warning to the international community to accelerate theimplementation of security sector reforms. We were appalled by the attack against our Embassy in Mogadishu last July. It will not deter us however, butonly further strengthen our resolve and commitment to assist the people of Somalia.

On the political field, we must encourage the regional and local governments and entities to increase their dialogue with the Somali government. Although each region and entity has the responsibility to govern in the best interest of its residents, the federal government carries the responsibility to finalize the federal constitution. This would serve to reduce conflicts among the centralgovernment and local administrations by establishing confidence between them.In this regard, we welcome the recent Vision 2016 Conference organized by the Federal Government in Mogadishu on 2-6 September 2013 and its principles and recommendations as an important step in the right direction. As the international community, we need to assist the government in setting up publicservices such as schools, local police stations and medical facilities in all regional administrations.

Reconciliation is another critical issue for peace and stability of Somalia. We are happy to see that the Somalia-Somaliland dialogue which Turkey is hosting in Istanbul every three months is moving in the right direction. Parties are sitting around the same table and working on concrete steps to take their relations forward.

We welcome the peaceful settlement of the Kismayo issue, and establishment of the region and administration of Jubba, which is in line with our vision for a strong, sovereign and prosperous federal country. We are also glad to see that the international community, in the face of the fragile security situation remainscommitted to assisting the people of Somalia. To that end, we deem it vital to extend financial and technical assistance to the Somali government, by using the framework of the Compact.

Turkey has provided 4,5 million US Dollars every month since June 2013 to the Federal Government of Somalia as a cash contribution to the budget. On this occasion I would like to announce that Turkey will allocate an additional 13,5 million US Dollars to support the budget of the Somali Federal Government until the end of this year.

The official visit of Prime Minister Erdoğan to Somalia on 19 August 2011 was a turning point, not only in our bilateral relations, but also in the recent history of Somalia. This visit underscored Turkey’s commitment and solidarity with theSomali people. Turkey’s humanitarian aid and development assistance to Somalia has reached 300 Million US Dollars and Turkish Airlines is still the only western airline flying to Mogadishu. Before the end of this year, we willstart the construction of our new embassy building in Mogadishu, which will be the biggest in our diplomatic service.

In line with our desire to see a secure, stable and prosperous Somalia, we will continue to assist and support this country. With the dedication of its people,Somalia will become the rising star of the Horn of Africa.

Thank you for your attention.