KUWAIT: President Asif Ali Zardari and Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Saturday agreed on facilitating their private sectors for increased joint ventures in trade and communication and gaining maximum benefit from their geo-strategic locations.
President Zardari and President Gul travelled back in the same car from the Loyalty Parade avenue, making a 50-minute drive to the Bayan Palace after which the talks also continued for more than half an hour at the Turkish President's villa.
The two leaders who are here to celebrate the 50th independence day of the oil-rich Kuwait, exchanged views on wide-ranging regional and international issues, besides the situation in middle east and Afghanistan.
President Zardari called for increasing bilateral trade to US $ 2 billion and beyond by year 2012 through encouraging public as well as private sectors to collaborate in key sectors such as infrastructure, engineering, telecom, mining and technology.
He reiterated his call for urgent upgradation of the existing railway line between the two countries for running of fast cargo trains to boost trade.
The President said that he had already proposed that the new fast cargo train be named as `Gul Train' after the name of Turkish President. He said that during his recent visit to Japan, he had invited the Japanese investors to invest in the `Gul Train project' and offered them to raise equity for it through the local stock market.
President Gul said Pakistan and Turkey enjoy social relations rooted in centuries old bonds of history, culture and religion. He expressed satisfaction over the frequency of interaction at the leadership level.
The Turkish President lauded the sacrifices rendered by the Pakistani nation and its armed forces in the war against terrorism, adding that the recent successes of Pakistan in the fight against terrorists have made them proud.
He expressed satisfaction over Pak-Turk defence cooperation and suggested increased military to military interaction, joint military exercises, training and related research and development.
On Pak-Afghan-Turkey trilateral process, President Zardari said Pakistan was committed to consolidating the gains made in engagement on Afghanistan to bring peace, stability and development in the country.
The President thanked Abdullah Gul for his country's generous assistance to Pakistan at a time when the country was ravaged by worst flood in its history.
President Abdullah Gul called for strengthening and expanding of Economic Cooperation Organization Bank by bringing more members of the organization on its platform.
President's spokesman Farhatullah Babar told APP that President Zardari said that Pakistan would be floating bonds tied to the shares in its oil and gas development company and invited Turkey to invest in these bonds.
The Turkish President appreciated the proposal and said he would send the Minister for Energy to Islamabad for talks on the subject.
Minister for Privatization Syed Naveed Qamar, Secretary to the President Malik Asif Hayat and Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar were present in the meeting.
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