Turkey to host next conference on Somalia

LONDON (A.A) - February 23, 2012 - Turkey will host the next international conference on Somalia in June in cooperation with the United Nations (UN). The International Conference on Somalia began in London, Britain on Thursday with participation of representatives of more than 50 countries and international organizations including Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Conclusions of today's conference are expected to be debated in the Istanbul conference, and thus the international community is expected to shape up a road map for Somalia.  Turkey is among the countries helping Somalia. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Somalia after an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul in which 350 million USD of fund was collected for Somalia. Erdogan's visit was the first of its kind to Somalia in the last 20 years, and Erdogan extended the aid to Somali executives. Turkey collected 550 million Turkish liras-TL (313.5 million USD) of monetary aid for Somalia in an aid campaign of non-governmental organizations, public institutions and media organs. Moreover, Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) sent 90 million TL (51.3 million USD) of monetary aid to this country.