The LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz said on Wednesday that Turkey can play an important role in economic turnaround of Pakistan. He said being the second fastest growing economy of the world after China, Turkey has a lot to offer their Pakistani counterparts who should avail the opportunities.
He further said that ample opportunities exist in a number of sectors including construction and energy sectors of Pakistan and now it is duty of the policy makers to make this visit meaningful. He called for exchange of business delegations so that both sides could have first-hand knowledge of the available opportunities in Pakistan and Turkey.
He further said that both the countries have marvellous untapped business potential that needs to be realized by maximising the involvement of private sectors of the two countries. He hoped that economic relations between the two countries would strengthen further to create a win-win situation for Pakistan and Turkey. Ijaz A Mumtaz said time has come that businessmen of the two countries should enhance their bilateral relations which will be beneficial for the people of two countries. "We can strengthen our economy by adopting the development and progress of Turkey as model," he added. He commended the efforts made by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and for accelerating two-way interaction among the businessmen of Turkey and Pakistan.
He said that textile sector has traditionally been the biggest sector of the economy. Studies and surveys confirm that its contribution in total exports are almost 60 percent and it engages almost 38 percent of manufacturing labour force to acquire more than 46 percent share in overall manufacturing. In the context of having won the GSP Plus status, the need of technology improvement and capacity building in textile sector of Pakistan is necessary, he mentioned.
He further said that Turkey is well positioned to take advantage of Pakistan's economic potential and its geo-strategic location. "Let us make trade and investment, the central pillar of this co-operation." He said that with regard to solid waste management, it is proposed that waste-to-energy solutions are gaining a lot of success in modern world. He said that Pakistan is facing severe crisis in energy sector and it is the best way that we go for all possible options of alternative energy.
He emphasised that some kind of understanding should be developed between the private sector representatives of both the countries that will certainly provide basis to convert that into business deals. He said that some analysts presume that the trade volume between Turkey and Pakistan can be increased as high as US two billion dollars with some joint efforts made by public and private sectors of both the countries.