Turkey's President meets Pakistani Zardari

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed his country's willingness to improve trade relations with Turkey, saying the two countries had a great potential for a solid economic partnership.

"As we speak of strong a friendship and brotherhood between our two nations, we cannot speak of a parallel success in economic cooperation, trade and investment, which saddens us all. But we know that we have a great potential and we want to boost trade relations between Turkey and Pakistan," Zerdari told a joint press meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul in Islamabad.

Zerdari said the two countries eyed to increase their trade volume first to $2 billion and then to $5 billion in the shortest possible time.

The Pakistani president said Turkey and Pakistan shared a joint perspective to strengthen their strategic partnership as well.

Zerdari said the two countries were resolved to work together in the struggle against "terrorism and extremism".

Zerdari affirmed that Pakistan shared a similar view with Turkey over Afghanistan, adding "we will continue to support Afghanistan in its efforts to reach a sustainable prosperity, peace and economic development."

Gul said that Turkey attaches great importance to peace and stability in Pakistan, adding that it supports Pakistani government's efforts to maintain national unity and "fight terrorism and extremism."

Gul also said it was really important for Pakistan to get international support, and he called on the international community to support Pakistan on its struggle.

On economic relations, Gul said the two countries were working on freight rail transport which he said was planned to begin in August from Istanbul to Pakistan.

"We have many ideas to rehabilitate and improve this line to increase speed and shorten travel time. We are resolute to put these projects into practice," Gul said.

"Perhaps, perfect political relations caused a failure in economic relations," Gul added.

"But there is a great potential and we are aware of this. So, we are eager to reach the $2 billion trade volume target and than we want to make it $5 billion in the shortest time possible," he said.


/World Bulletin/