ANKARA (Turkey): Pakistan and Turkey will constitute a Joint Task Force under the coordination of their commerce and trade ministries to develop a comprehensive road-map, covering the issues connected to bilateral trade.

This was agreed upon in a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz and Turkish Minister of Trade Dr. Mehmet Mus in Ankara. The Joint Task Force under Turkish Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan will cover areas including logistics, banking, customs and agriculture.

During the meeting, the prime minister underscored the importance of deepening economic engagement and realizing the true potential of business, trade and investment between Pakistan and Turkey.

He noted that his visit to Turkey included engagement with the Turkish business community in order to focus on strengthening trade and investment relations.

Underlining the need to increase bilateral trade, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif highlighted the importance of early finalization of Trade in Goods Agreement, which would open up new opportunities to boost bilateral trade across various sectors to the benefit of both economies and countries.

The prime minister also noted that the connectivity projects between Pakistan and Turkey, in particular Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul (ITI) Cargo Train, would provide additional avenues for the traders on both sides to conduct business efficiently and expeditiously.

He underlined that the business community from both sides, must expand their networking and explore new opportunities for joint ventures.