Pakistani premier invites Turkish businesses to invest in his country

By Azernews

By Economy Service

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called on Turkish businessmen to invest in his country, Yeni Shafak newspaper reports.

Sharif, who was in Turkey on an official visit at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made the remarks at the Turkey-Pakistan Business Forum, organized by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).

“I invite all Turkish business people to my country. We have learned from mistakes we made in the past. I am not making any political accusations. We will roll out the red carpet in our country and serve you Turkish coffee,” Sharif said.

In addition to Prime Minister Sharif, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Trade Minister Mehmet Mus, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Pakistan Federal Trade Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Pakistan Federal Minister of Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, Pakistan's Ambassador to Ankara Muhammed Syrus Sajjad Qazi, TOBB President Rifat Hisarciklioglu and many Turkish and Pakistani business people attended the forum.

Speaking at the forum, Sharif drew attention to the fact that Turkey is a country that has made great progress in recent years thanks to its visionary and dynamic leader Erdogan.

“Turkey is a country that has the world's leading contractors. It carries out many successful construction and infrastructure projects around the world, especially in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia," he underlined.

Pointing out that $1.1 billion in the trade volume between the two countries is an insufficient figure, Sharif said: “Unfortunately, the fraternal relationship between Turkey and Pakistan is not adequately reflected in trade relations. Economic barriers and obstacles between the two countries should be overcome. Whatever is necessary should be done in this regard.”

The prime minister emphasized that they aim to increase the trade volume between Turkey and Pakistan to the level of $5 billion in three years.

“We have everything necessary for this. When that happens, I will be the happiest person,” he added.

Stating that they learned from some wrong practices of the past, Sharif sincerely apologized to Turkish business people who had been mistreated in Pakistan.

“I apologize to you for what had happened in the past, I express my regret. I apologize to you for whatever has been done against Turkish business people," he said.

Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus said that the trade volume between the two countries is approaching $1 billion.

“Despite the Covid-19 outbreak in 2021, our trade with Pakistan increased by 22.5 percent compared to the previous year. During President Erdogan's visits to Pakistan, a target of $5 billion was set. When we look at the first four months of this year, there is an increase of approximately seven percent compared to the same period of the previous year. This is pleasing, but we are far behind the level,” Mus stressed.

According to Mus, the discussions on the trade agreement between the two nations are underway and they believe that with the contract in question, the objective of $5 billion would be exceeded first, followed by further targets.

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President, Rifat Hisarciklioglu, emphasized that although Turkey and Pakistan have close relations in every field, the trade volume between them is insufficient.

“Our mutual investments are also not at the level we want. Turkey's total direct investments in Pakistan are around $1 billion. There are a total of 233 Pakistani capital firms in Turkey. In the 2000-2020 period, the amount of direct investment made by Pakistani companies in our country is around $691 million. Our contracting companies have realized important projects in Pakistan as well as all over the world. 71 projects worth approximately $3.5 billion have been successfully completed by our companies,” he noted.

Hisarciklioglu added that the business community is concerned about protectionist trade practices and that a well-designed free trade agreement between the two nations would be advantageous.

“As a businessman, our most important problem is visa-related. We are friends, we are brothers. Visa application stands before us as a serious obstacle in front of trade. At least we need to save the business world from this visa problem. Support us. Let's do more mutual trade," he emphasized.