The closeness that characterises the relations between Pakistan and Turkey was on ample display when the prime ministers of the two brotherly countries addressed a joint news conference in Ankara on Wednesday. Both Pakistan's Shaukat Aziz and his host and counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, extended unqualified support to one another on the sensitive issues of Kashmir and Cyprus.
While Erdogan declared that "Turkey fully supports Pakistan on Kashmir", Aziz averred, "Whatever steps Turkey has outlined and deems necessary on Northern Cyprus, we have said that we support them without any reservations." The mutual warmth and friendship, in fact, goes a long time back in history.
The two have also been trying, for quite sometime, to forge stronger economic links first within the framework of Regional Co-operation for Development (RCD), and then under Economic Co-operation Organisation (ECO). Unfortunately, however, so far these efforts have not yielded a meaningful economic co-operation either in the regional setting or on a bilateral basis.
If the resolve that Aziz expressed on Wednesday lasts a while, that situation is about to change. He described his visit to Turkey as a "turning point in our relations in terms of our desire to raise the level of co-operation between our countries." Towards that end, he stressed the need to increase the volume of bilateral trade from the current insignificant level of $400 million to at least $1 billion, and also invited Turkish businessmen to invest in Pakistan's infrastructure development programmes.
Aside from seeking expansion in bilateral trade and business relations, the two leaders voiced their interest in making ECO and OIC more effective and result-oriented. Indeed, this is a charming assertion of intent, though not so new. These two countries along with Iran, it may be recalled, had first set up RCD as far back as 1964.
But that body failed to make any significant contribution to economic co-operation among the three states, and went out of business in 1979. The idea of regional partnership though did not lose its appeal because of the promise of economic advantages it presented. Hence, the trio set up another organisation in 1985 under the banner of ECO, for the express purpose of promoting economic, technical as well as cultural co-operation.
It was expanded in 1992 to include Afghanistan and six newly-independent Central Asian countries. However, ECO too failed to make much progress on its stated objectives. Twenty years on, it is yet to put in place the necessary infrastructure and institutions. One hopes the 'turning point' remark of our Prime Minister is applicable to the multilateral context of ECO as well.
A fresh idea that both leaders explored and agreed on was presented by Erdogan, saying that the two sides had a "potential to take many steps" to increase co-operation in defence industry.
These steps, his aide later revealed, could lead to joint production of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and patrol boats. The aide also said that a Turkish company, Aselsan, is ready to sell electronic warfare equipment to Pakistan Army.
Turkey indeed has a lot to offer Pakistan in this particular field. A member of the world's most powerful military alliance, Nato, it has access, even if limited, to advanced technologies in the area of defence production. Collaborative defence ventures with Turkey, therefore, hold great possibilities for this country for upgrading its military equipment.
Some of these technologies, such as those employed in electronic warfare equipment can be useful in modernising the economy as well. Though for now it is being offered in ready-to-use military equipment, it is reasonable to expect that at a later time Turkey would also be willing to share this technology with Pakistan.
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