Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Pakistan and Turkey is all set to be signed early next year and the list of goods to be traded between the two countries is being finalised. Turkish Ambassador Hizlan Babur said this while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Honrary Consul General in Lahore Mian Tajammal Hussain, Chairman Pak-Turkey Business Council Bashir A Baksh and former president Iftikhar Ali Malik were also present on the occasion. The ambassador said that the Preferential Trade Agreement would help achieve $2 billion target of two-way trade set by the Turkish Prime Minister. To give further boost to existing trade volume, feasibility study has been completed to run train between Lahore and Ankra while a number of other agreements had also been concluded that would benefit the two sides, he said.
Turkish businessmen are ready to initiate joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts as they are convinced that ample opportunities lie in a number of sectors, including construction and energy. He said that Turkey for being second fastest growing economy of the world after China and first in the European Union has a lot to offer to their Pakistani counterparts and they should avail the available opportunities.
The ambassador called for exchange of business delegations so that both sides could have first hand knowledge of the available opportunities in Pakistan and Turkey. He said that both countries have marvellous untapped business potential that needs to be realised by maximising the involvement of private sectors of the two countries. He hoped that the economic relation between the two countries would strengthen further to create a win-win situation for Pakistan and Turkey.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that both the sides need to make all out efforts to develop closer trade and investment ties. He said that although the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Turkey has been gradually growing, but it still leaves much to be desired. In the same period of time, Pak exports to Turkey have shown considerable improvement.
However, the current level of trade between Pakistan and Turkey has least relevance to the size of the markets of the two countries. In terms of GDP, Turkey ranked at 17th place is way ahead of Pakistan, which is at 47th place. The Lahore Chamber is ready to play its due role in exploring the available opportunities. Turkey imports semi-finished goods from various countries in bulk for value addition and Pakistan can be the best case for that. Pakistani businessmen are capable of exporting semi-finished goods to Turkey from textiles to dairy products, from fresh fruits and vegetables to precious and semi-precious gems and many more.
Pakistan's major exports to Turkey are cotton, plastics, cereals, beverages, spirits, articles of apparel, manmade staple fibres, articles of leather, raw hides & skins and etc. Whereas Pakistan's major imports from Turkey are: machinery, ships, organic chemicals, paper and paperboard, iron and steel, plastics products, tanning and dyeing extracts.
LCCI Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher stressed the need for initiating work on common Muslim consumer market and common Muslim financial market. He said that Turkey and Pakistan are bonded together by old historical and religious relations. Pakistan and Turkey are two independent countries located at a distance from each other but there is no distance between our hearts, which beat together.
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