Istanbul: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Saturday urged Turkish companies to invest in Pakistan, as the infinite potential between the two brotherly countries should also be reflected in bilateral trade and business.
PM Shehbaz was addressing the Turkiye-Pakistan Business Council meeting on Saturday, a day after reaching Turkiye on a two-day official visit.
During the address, PM Shehbaz reassured that his government would fully provide a hassle and “red tape-free environment” to Turkish investors. He informed that during his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it was conveyed that more Turkish companies were eager to come to Pakistan.
Regarding the delay in payment to investors, the Prime Minister said that it was regrettable that in the past regime, the Turkish companies that had invested in Pakistan were not given their due payments.
He pledged to expedite work on the “Trade and Goods Agreement” to further promote the bilateral trade and business relations between the two brotherly countries.
“Pakistan and Turkiye have signed an MOU to enhance the bilateral trade volume up to $5 billion in the next three years,” he said
Turkiye’s annual trade stood around $250 billion, but the trade between Pakistan and Turkiye is hovering around one and half billion dollars which had been peanuts while considering the immense potential,” he added.
He also made a pitch to Turkish entrepreneurs to invest in a 10,000-megawatt solar power project for Pakistan, saying “my investor is my master”.
PM Shehbaz also expressed his government’s resolve to cut down “very expensive” imports of oil and petroleum products, on which $27 billion was spent last year. “We simply can’t afford this.”
He explained, his government had invited foreign investment at a conference in Islamabad around a month and a half ago for a 10,000MW solar power project.
“It’s not just a paper, or a talk, or a feasibility,” he said about the project. “I, along with my colleagues, […] am committed to this philosophy that we shall implement this scheme with in letter and spirit with our own resources, with investment from Turkiye, from China, from Saudia Arabia, from Qatar, from the UAE (United Arab Emirates), from the United States of America, from wherever.”
He assured the investors that the Pakistan government would create a conducive, enabling and friendly environment for them to invest in the project.
Pakistan, Turkiye reaffirm commitment for $5 billion trade in 3 years
