LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commcerce and Industry (LCCI) Wednesday said that Turkey was a time-tested friend and could play an important role in economic turnaround of Pakistan.
LCCI President, Ijaz A. Mumtaz, who had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with his Turkish counterpart in the presence of Turkish Primer, Ahmet Davutoglu and Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, said that visit of high-powered Turkish delegation was enough to prove that Turkey wanted to strengthen its economic ties with Pakistan.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that ample opportunities existed in a number of sectors including construction and energy sectors of Pakistan and now it was duty of the policy-makers to make this visit meaningful.
The LCCI President said that Turkey for being second fastest growing economy of the world after China and first in the European Union had a lot to offer to their Pakistani counterparts and they should avail the opportunities.
He also called for exchange of business delegations so that both the sides could have first hand knowledge of available opportunities in Pakistan and Turkey.
Both the countries, he said, had marvelous untapped business potential that needed to be realized by maximizing the involvement of private sectors of the two countries.
He hoped that economic relation between the two countries would strengthen further to create a win-win situation for Pakistan and Turkey.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said the time had come that the businessmen of both the countries should enhance their bilateral relations which would be beneficial for people of both the countries.
He said, "We can strengthen our economy by adopting the development and progress of Turkey as model". 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 had traditionally been the biggest sector of Pak economy, as the studies and surveys confirmed that its contribution in total exports were almost 60 percent and it engaged almost 38 percent of manufacturing labour force to acquire more than 46 percent share in overall manufacturing.
The LCCI President said that in the context of having won the GSP Plus status, the need of technology improvement and capacity building in textile sector of Pakistan was necessary. No other country could become better partner with Pakistan than Turkey, therefore, any initiative from Turkish business community would always be welcomed.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that Turkey was 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 cooperation", he maintained.
With regard to solid waste management, he said, it was proposed that waste-to-energy solutions were gaining a lot of success in modern world, asserting that Pakistan was facing severe crisis in energy sector and it was the best way to go for all possible options of alternative energy.
He emphasized that some kind of understanding should be developed between private sector representatives of both the countries that would certainly provide basis to convert that into business deals.
He said that some analysts presumed that trade volume between Turkey and Pakistan could be increased as high as $ 2 billion with some joint efforts made by public and private sectors of both the countries.
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