Turkiye Pakistan have Significant Potential to Boost Trade and Cooperation – Ambassador Visits FPCCI Capital Office

Islamabad: Turkiye wants to increase its trade relation with Pakistan as both nations have significant potential to expand trade in many areas; Turk Ambassador Dr. Mehmet Pacaci stated it during his visit to FPCCI Capital Office Islamabad. Mr. Irfan Iqbal Sheikh President of FPCCI and other office bearers were also present on the occasion. It can be recalled here that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Erdogan couple of days ago, held talks in Turkiye, in which both leaders discussed to take the volume up to 5 Billion Dollars in future.

At FPPCI, during the Discussions to further, improve bilateral trade and economic relations , Dr. Mehmet Pacaci said that  there is much potential to improve it further. He said that both the brotherly countries should take advantage of each other’s experience to boost the trade ties and commercial activities to improve standards of life of their citizens.

He advised that a trade delegation from Pakistan and Turkiye should visit and share their trade experience providing a chance for further polishing their trade skills and scope. Talking about trade through roads and railways, he said Pakistan can upgrade its railway system to make it compatible with the Turkish rail network to promote trade through railways.

Speaking on the occasion, President FPCCI Irfan Iqbal Sheikh stressed to further strengthening of bilateral trade and relations between Pakistan and Turkiye and said that it is time to increase the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries. He highlighted various investment opportunities in Pakistan in different sectors including oil and gas, mines and minerals, gemstones, tourism, information technology, food processing, agriculture, dairy products, furniture, hotel, and resorts. He further said that the experience of the Turkish tourism sector can be utilized for the development of the tourism sector in Pakistan. The Turkish advanced technology in various fields may lead Pakistan’s various sectors to develop and be beneficial, he added.

Mian Anjum Nisar Former President of FPCCI & Chairman of BMP said that despite enjoying exemplary and brotherly relations, trade between Pakistan and Turkey stood at just US $1.08 billion. He stressed to promote strong linkages between private sectors of both countries. He expressed his believe that a well thought out and well-negotiated Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and Turkey can potentially increase bilateral trade to US $ 5 billion. He said that Istanbul can provide Pakistan easy access to European and Eastern European market for exports.

Mian Nasser Hyatt Magoo, Former President of FPCCI on the occasion, highlighted that the land route services would be beneficial for expansion Pak Turkey bilateral trade as our shipments can reach from Islamabad to Istanbul in 10 days via Taftan, Zahidan and Tehran. He said that shipping time from Pakistan to turkey is about 40 days which not only expensive in terms of freight but also in shipment time. He stressed on resolving the issues of transit trade and said expressed his believe that once the land rout become smooth the bilateral trade between both the countries will be more than doubled in volume.

Muhammad Suleman Chawla Senior Vice President of FPCCI said that Pakistan & Turkey enjoy heart-to-heart relations and it but not reflected in trade according to the actual potential. The Turkiye has vast experience in development of border station; he urged that Turkey should invest in modernizing the border stations of Pakistan with Central Asian Countries for development and investment in trade and economic sectors.

Amin Ullah Baig, Vice President FPCCI said there are vast opportunities for investment in minerals, tourism, hydel and cross-border trade sectors in Pakistan adding Turkiye by keeping in view the potential should invest in these sectors. The local business community has a great interest in investing with its Turkish counterparts.

Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi, Vice President FPCCI said “We need to make more efforts to diversify the present trend of bilateral trade,” Turkiye is in well positioned to take advantage of Pakistan’s economic potential and its geostrategic location. He emphasized that some kind of understanding between the private-sector representatives of both countries, which would lead to lucrative business deals for the benefit of both nations.

Mirza Abdul Rehman Chairman, Coordination FPCCI Capital Office thanked the Ambassador for his visit to Capital Office and shared his views, suggestions for enhancement of bilateral economic relations. He also appreciated the encouraging efforts of Turkish Embassy in the regard. He expressed his hope that through joint efforts we will soon achieve the potential bilateral trade target of US $ 5 billion. Both countries should facilitate their private sectors to further improve the trade, he added.