Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Islamabad and Ankara have reaffirmed their target to increase the volume of bilateral trade to $5 billion.
He made the remarks during a joint press conference in Istanbul with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is on an official visit to Turkey. The two leaders held a bilateral meeting prior to their press briefing.
“In our talks today, we exchanged views on global and regional issues with a particular focus on our bilateral relations,” President Erdogan said.
Affirming that Turkey’s solidarity with Pakistan “continues in every field”, the president said the two sides discussed the “steps we can take to further enhance our trade and investment relations in a manner befitting the spirit of solidarity”.
“We have reaffirmed our target of increasing our trade volume to the previously set level of $5 billion,” he added.
Erdogan noted that both countries’ trade ministries were working on establishing a special economic zone (SEZ) planned for “our business people in Karachi”.
“Similarly, negotiations are ongoing on expanding the scope of our preferential trade agreement,” he said, expressing confidence that the B2B conference would contribute to Pak-Turkiye investment ties.
“We, too, encourage our investors to engage in more activities in Pakistan,” he added.
The Turkish president remarked that the bilateral cooperation in the defense industry was “one of the cornerstones of our economic relations and it continues to grow stronger with new projects each passing day”.
“We are implementing these projects step by step, and I am confident and I believe that they will further strengthen Pakistan.”
Erdogan expressed Turkey’s desire to deepen cooperation in the fields of energy, transportation, critical minerals, and information technologies.
“I hope that today’s meeting and the decisions we have reached will lead to beneficial outcomes,” he concluded.
At the outset of his address, Erdogan mentioned Islamabad’s role in mediation between the United States and Iran, which culminated in an understanding last month to end the war.
He said the “entire world has had a sigh of relief thanks to the calm achieved through” the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed on June 18 to end the US-Iran war.
“Recent reports in the international media have highlighted challenges involved in the negotiation process,” he noted.
The Turkish president congratulated PM Shehbaz and the Pakistani “brothers and sisters whose invaluable efforts played a major role in achieving this outcome”.
“We too have supported and continue to support every step that will help to reduce tensions in our region and resolve issues through diplomatic means,” he affirmed.
Erdogan said Ankara was “closely monitoring the Israeli administration’s provocations aimed at sabotaging the agreement” between the US and Iran.
“The Zionist massacre team responsible has cited political survival to the continuation of conflicts in the region, and the Israeli occupying forces are also continuing their inhumane attacks on the people of Gaza,” he highlighted.
The Turkish president asserted that the “current war-addicted Israeli government must not be allowed to once again engulf our region in the smell of gunpowder and blood”.
“Turkiye seeks the establishment of an environment in which all the peoples of the region, regardless of their faith, can live in peace and security,” he stated, adding that his country was making every effort to create such an environment.
Erdogan emphasized: “No solution that does not derive strength from the contributions of countries in the region can possibly be lasting.”
He affirmed that Ankara would continue working with “brotherly countries, foremost among them Pakistan, to strengthen peace, stability and prosperity in our region”.
Erdogan also expressed his condolences on Friday’s accident near the Balochistan-KP border, which claimed the lives of 40 people.
Erdogan had received PM Shehbaz at Vahdettin Palace, where an official welcome ceremony was held.
The two leaders then proceeded to a bilateral meeting, which was expected to be followed by delegation-level talks.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Intelligence Organization head Ibrahim Kalin, the presidency’s Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, and the president’s chief adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic attended the closed-door meeting.
According to the Foreign Office, PM Shehbaz was set to “hold discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral relations with a special focus on giving impetus to bilateral trade and investment cooperation between the two brotherly countries”.
“The leadership meeting will also reflect on issues concerning regional peace and security,” FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday.
‘Turkey one of Pakistan’s staunchest allies’
PM Shehbaz also addressed a Pakistan-Turkey business-to-business (B2B) conference in Istanbul.
At the outset of his address, the premier called Turkiye “one of Pakistan’s staunchest allies around the globe”.
He noted that the “fraternal bond between our two countries” dated back to Turkiye’s War of Independence, when Muslims of the subcontinent supported Turkiye’s efforts for independence.
PM Shehbaz said: “Little did our forefathers know that a time would come when our brothers and sisters in Turkey would pay back far beyond our own imaginations in terms of compassion, friendship, support.
“Be it war, earthquakes, floods, Turkey has been Pakistan’s staunchest ally throughout the period.”
The prime minister noted that the strength of the Pak-Turkiye relationship “demands very strongly that these beautiful words from both sides must now be converted into something concrete”, referring to the speeches given by the two countries’ ministers.
“I think this is high time when Pakistan, with the great support of my very dear brother President Tayyip Erdogan, has been able to mediate peace between the United States and Iran,” he recalled.
PM Shehbaz described the mediation efforts saying, “It wasn’t an easy task; a very uphill task.”
He added that “this mission would have been well-nigh impossible” without the “very sincere support” of Turkey and other brotherly countries.
The prime minister called for finding “tremendous potential in this peace process not only for our bilateral benefits, but for the entire region”.
Commending Erdogan’s “dynamic leadership”, he noted that Turkey had made “tremendous strides in the field of industry”.
“Today, your automobile industry is at par with your textile, livestock, agriculture, and this has been a kind of a mini-miracle in the last 20 years under President Tayyip Erdogan’s leadership.”
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz attended the moot. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, Power Minister Awais Leghari and IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja were among those from the Pakistani side who also addressed the conference.
The B2B conference was to “spotlight Pakistan’s trade and investment potential in priority areas, including SEZs (special economic zones), energy, trade, IT and privatization sectors”, the FO spokesperson had said.
PM invites Turkish companies to expand investments in Pakistan
As he began the day, PM Shehbaz held a series of meetings with senior executives of Turkey’s leading business groups and industry organizations in Istanbul.
He invited Turkish companies to expand their investments in several sectors in Pakistan, including energy, mining and minerals, infrastructure, maritime and logistics, information technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, agriculture and privatization, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The statement said PM Shehbaz reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to “strengthening economic cooperation and attracting greater Turkish investment across key sectors of the economy”.
He also underlined the deep-rooted brotherly ties between Pakistan and Turkey and emphasized the importance of translating the two countries’ exceptional relationship into a stronger economic and investment partnership, he added.
PM Shehbaz also discussed Pakistan’s improving macroeconomic fundamentals and investor-friendly policy framework, adding that the government is committed to ensuring “a transparent, predictable and business-friendly investment environment”.
“He noted that the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), working in close coordination with the relevant federal and provincial authorities, continues to provide one-window facilitation and institutional support for strategic investors,” the statement said.
Speaking with the chairman of Çalık Holding, Ahmet Çalık, Shehbaz stressed opportunities in Pakistan’s energy, infrastructure, information technology and privatization sectors, welcoming the company’s interest in expanding its operations in Pakistan.
He also invited Albayrak Group to expand its investments in maritime infrastructure, port modernization and logistics, “recognizing its important contribution to Pakistan’s connectivity and infrastructure development”.
The statement said the premier appreciated the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) for its “continued efforts to strengthen business-to-business engagement between Pakistan and Turkey” in a meeting with the organization’s president.
He further proposed a structured institutional mechanism for regular interaction between the private sectors of both countries and invited TOBB to lead a high-level business delegation to Pakistan to explore emerging investment opportunities firsthand.
According to the PMO, the Turkish business leaders expressed confidence in Pakistan’s economic outlook, the press release said, adding that the business groups “reaffirmed their interest in expanding investments and developing long-term partnerships across a range of strategic sectors”.
Turkcell invited to explore collaboration in 5G deployment, other areas
In a separate meeting with Turkcell Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ali Taha Koç, PM Shehbaz shared his government’s vision of establishing a Pakistan-Türkiye Digital Corridor.
According to a PMO statement, the digital corridor would “strengthen regional digital connectivity, facilitate secure cross-border data flows, and advance the integration of digital infrastructure”.
The premier underlined the importance of deepening Pakistan-Türkiye cooperation in the digital and technology sectors.
He invited Turkcell to explore long-term collaboration with Pakistani institutions in various areas, including 5G deployment, network optimization, spectrum management, digital infrastructure and technology transfer.
“He also encouraged the company to consider partnerships in the local manufacturing of telecommunications equipment, software development, digital skills development and capacity building,” PMO said.
PM Shehbaz stressed that such cooperation would strengthen Pakistan’s technology ecosystem while generating opportunities for innovation, employment and sustainable growth.
He reaffirmed Pakistan’s “commitment to maintaining a transparent, predictable and investment-friendly business environment, supported by the SIFC, to facilitate strategic investments in high-value sectors, particularly information and communication technologies”.
On his part, the Turkcell CEO appreciated the government’s “forward-looking digital transformation agenda and expressed Turkcell’s keen interest in exploring opportunities for collaboration in telecommunications, digital infrastructure and emerging technologies”, PMO said.
He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to “working closely with the relevant Pakistani stakeholders to develop mutually beneficial partnerships that contribute to the shared economic and technological aspirations” of both countries.
PM Shehbaz had arrived in Istanbul on Friday for an official visit at the invitation of Erdogan, after attending the funeral of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.
Last week, Pakistan and Turkey signed Three MoUs aimed at enhancing institutional collaboration, technical cooperation and knowledge sharing in the power sector during high-level consultations held in Istanbul.