Europe

Europe

Turkish PM to visit Somalia next week

12 August 2011 18:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a visit to drought-stricken Somalia on August 18, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

His wife Emine Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as well as other officials will accompany the Turkish prime minister during his visit to Somalia which is suffering from a severe famine and hunger, said the report.

Turkey has launched a massive aid campaign to help efforts to fight hunger in eastern Africa where the World Food Program estimates that 10 million people already need humanitarian aid.

Donations collected by Turkish Prime Ministry and Religious Affairs Directorate reached 54.1 million lira (about 30 million U. S. dollars) in a campaign launched to help African countries.

The U.N. Children’s Fund estimates that more than 2 million children are malnourished and in need of life-saving action in the region.