Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived here on Monday on a five-day official visit to Turkey at the invitation of his Turkish countterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On arrival at the airport, the Prime Minister was received by Turkish Law and Justice Minister Mehmed Ali Shaheen besides senior officials of Turkey and Pakistan foreign office.
Talking to the media persons, the Prime Minister said that his visit to Turkey will help expand multi-dimensional relations between the two brotherly countries. The Prime Minister told that during his visit he would attend the World Economic Forum scheduled from October 29-30 besides meeting with the Turkish leadership and world leaders to exchange views on promotion and strengthening of bilateral ties. He said that Pakistan and Turkey enjoy deep-rooted brotherly relations based on common faith, culture, traditions and Islamic brotherhood.
Both the countries have unanimity of views on regional and global issues and were co-operating in diversified fields, he added.
The Prime Minister said that there existed a lot of potential for expanding bilateral ties between Pakistan and Turkey in the fields of science and technology, energy, oil and gas, environment, cement and construction industry and other economic related sectors for their mutual advantage. Gilani said that he would take the world community into confidence about Pakistan's friendly investment policies and woo the investors to take benefit of its geo-strategic location.
The Prime Minister said that he would interact with world leaders, top economic experts and heads of various international organisations attending the World Economic Forum. The Prime Minister said that he looks forward to the Friends of Pakistan's initiative to help the country steer out of the economic crisis it was currently facing.
Pakistan is an important country and is at the forefront in fighting terrorism and extremism while spreading the message of peace to the entire world, he added. Prime Minister Gilani said that he will be chief guest at the Turkish Independence Day celebrations on October 29 on special invitation of his Turkish counterpart.