Terming President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's two-day state visit to Pakistan an opening of new vistas for investment bonanza, the business community in Pakistan is of the opinion that it will not only help transforming bilateral relations into economic partnership for the mutual benefit of both countries but also give impetus for restoration of peace and usher in an era of prosperity in the region.
"We are not geographically neighbours, but the affinity between Turkey and Pakistan is unique since the close ties between the two countries derive its strength from the Muslim brotherly relations between our peoples," said Vice Chairman SAARC Chamber and Chairman United Business Group Iftikhar Ali Malik in a statement on Wednesday.
He said entrepreneurs as well as policy makers at government level can learn a lot from shared economic visions. "Clearly, Turkey made exceptional economic progress in the first 10 years of Erdogan's rule. Turkey is now the world's 18th largest economy. Some of its industry is world class and a leading producer of television sets and commercial trucks."
Iftikhar Malik was of the view that traditional barriers to trade including tariffs and quantitative restrictions are being dismantled with a view to promote cross-border trade.
Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) Chief Executive Mian Kashif Ashfaq said there is a great scope of flourishing furniture trade between Pakistan and Turkey. Pakistani and Turkish business community have common objectives and goals and both the sides showed their keen interests to work together to synergize the efforts for greater efficiency.
He said the OPFC has signed agreements with Turkish business organisations like INSIAD and PTBA to arrange business activities in Turkey besides providing international exposure through International Expo's knowledge sharing of modern furniture and technology. He said Turkish companies' investments in Pakistan currently stand at US $900 million.
Ashfaq said trade volume with Pakistan exceeded US $1 billion in 2011. "Unfortunately, it decreased to US $599.6 million in 2015. In 2015, our bilateral trade volume was US $599.7 million. Turkish exports to Pakistan were US $289 million, while Pakistan exports to Turkey were US $310.5 million. In the first 5 months of 2016, compared to the same period of 2015, Turkish exports to Pakistan increased by 39.6 percent and became US $151 million, whereas Pakistan's exports to Turkey decreased by 30.2 percent and realised at US $105 million. In this period, our bilateral trade volume reached US $256 million," he added.
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