The meeting of Pakistan-Turkey Joint Business Council (PTJBC) was held on Thursday here at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI). Pakistan was represented by Amjad Rafi while Huseyin Akin represented the Turkish side.
The meeting was attended by 12 members of Turkish delegation mainly representing Textile, Construction and Energy sectors while Pakistan side was represented by large number of members of Pakistan-Turkey Business Council as well as leading businessmen of the country.
In his address, PTJBC Co-Chairman Amjad Rafi briefed the meeting about the activities of PTJBC and its role in the enhancement of bilateral trade between the two countries. He said that it was the need of the hour that the two countries sign a preferential trade agreement for which, he informed discussions had already been started. He said that there was a tremendous potential of trade between Pakistan and Turkey in areas including textile machinery, equipments, chemicals and fertilisers, food processing, auto spare parts, energy, mineral resources and mining, and textile garments.
Huseyin Akin, Co-Chairman, Turkey-Pakistan Joint Business Council said that both the countries offer tremendous investment opportunities as they have strategic geo-political location and highly qualified and productive labour force. He said that Turkey was an ideal investment hub for the whole region. On the other hand, Pakistan's young and dynamic population and rapid urbanisation combined with its growing GDP present tremendous opportunities for co-operation in various fields.
He was of the view that the existing trade volume between the two countries does not reflect the real trade potential and it should be increased significantly in terms of variety and volume. He said that last year, the Prime Ministers of both the countries had set an ambitious target of $2 billion bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Turkey and every effort was being made to achieve the target.
Speaking on the occasion, Murat Onart, Consul General of Turkey said that relation between the two brotherly countries was historic. In the technical session of the meeting, most of the participants complained that the Safeguard duty imposed by Turkish side would badly hurt export of Pakistani textile raw materials to Turkey. The next meeting of the Joint Business Council will take place in Istanbul, Turkey in 2012.
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