SIALKOT: Ambassador of the Republic of Turkiye to Pakistan Mehmet Pacaci said on Thursday that his country was keen to boost mutual trade with Pakistan, and pledged to help remove all hurdles in this regard.
He was addressing a meeting of Sialkot exporters at the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here.
SCCI President Abdul Ghafoor Malik, Senior Vice President (SVP) Wahub Jahangir, Vice President Amer Majeed Sheikh and Sialkot business community representatives were also present.
The ambassador stressed that Turkiye was making all efforts for enhancing and strengthening its economic ties with Pakistan. He said that the two brotherly countries had signed a trade agreement, allowing both countries in principle greater access to each other’s markets to increase the volume of trade.
The two sides are committed to increasing bilateral trade volume to $5 billion over the next few years, he added.
The ambassador highlighted the two countries’ support for each other during “critical times,” as the relationship evolved from a strategic perspective. He said that Turkiye and Pakistan celebrated 75th year of establishment of our diplomatic ties last year. He said promotion of bilateral trade linkages depended on better coordination, interaction, and understanding among business communities of the two countries.
He said that the entrepreneurs of both countries should know each other more and work hard to expand trade and economic relations while he assured that his embassy would fully cooperate in such efforts. He invited the Sialkot exporters to diversify their product line, mentioning that most innovative goods were produced in Sialkot.
Ambassador Mehmet Pacaci said Pakistan and Turkiye are two brotherly countries having centuries old relationship. Turkish people have great love for Pakistani brethren. “We will not leave alone Pakistan in this critical period of time,” he promised. He said he would motivate the Turkiye business community to buy the Sialkot-made products directly from Sialkot instead of purchasing such products indirectly from the other countries on high prices.
The ambassador showed keen interest in SCCI’s documentary “Sialkot, the City of Progressive People”, which was screened during the meeting. SCCI President Abdul Ghafoor Malik said that Turkiye and Pakistan are brotherly Islamic countries sharing religious, cultural and sociopolitical heritage.
He said that Pakistan and Turkiye have to translate brotherly relations into economic terms as trade remains an untapped area between the two countries. He said the volume of trade between the two countries as per the State Bank of Pakistan was US$1.13 in FY 2021, with a balance of trade in favour of Turkiye at US$886 million.He said that there was a huge scope to increase this volume of trade as both sides had a huge unexplored trade potential.
