Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan committed to strengthening the economic relations between Pakistan and Turkiye by releasing the total potential of trade and investment.
President Erdogan remarked during his two day visit to the Pakistan Turkiye Business and Investment Forum here that our bilateral trade volume is strengthening year after year as in 2024 alone it rose about 30%.
He said, nevertheless, “We are still far behind our goal of $5 billion trade volume,” hence he is confident all pertinent parties will contribute to raising the trade volume.
He thought that enlarging the range of the preferential trade pact between the two nations and transforming it into a free trade agreement would help to generate steady and even growth in the trade volume.
Emphasizing the imperative of enhancing combined road and rail transport to grow the commercial interactions between the two nations, President Erdogan also said.
He said, “It will be wise for the entire area to take advantage of projects we can execute with a comprehensive vision including initiative on the middle corridors and reactivation of the Islamabad Tehran Istanbul trade railway line.”
He pointed out that Pakistan, with its strategic location, vast arable lands, and dynamic population, might one day be one of the major economies.
He stated that Pakistan’s transforming economy was forecast to launch major initiatives in the next several years especially in energy, agriculture, health care, infrastructure, IT, energy, trade and investment.
The Turkish president guaranteed the business owners all sorts of support to maximize the trade and economic chances between the two countries.
Regarding the situation in Gaza, the Turkish president stated “Gaza belongs to our Gazan siblings and it will always be so”.
He said Turkiye and Pakistan will act shoulderto ensure peace and prosperity of the region.
PM Shehbaz remarked even before partition that the people of Pakistan and Turkiye had fraternal contacts.
Pakistan had always linked its voice with that of the Turkish President for the freedom of the peoples of Gaza and Kashmir, he said. Under Erdogan and Nawaz Sharif’s direction, investment and commercial connections between Pakistan and Turkiye reached their most close point in the history of friendship and fraternities, he stated.
The prime minister advised the entrepreneurs and investors to help the government in reaching the $5 billion bilateral trade level.
“Although today we signed several MoU and agreements, more important is to turn them from paper to actions. Regarding this, I will be sure to give Turkish entrepreneurs investing in Pakistan all of my government’s support.
