The Turkish Ambassador made these remarks during the visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) for addressing the business community of the Federal Capital. Matters of mutual interest and bilateral relations came under discussion during the meeting.
Turkish Ambassador said that there were a lot of similarities that could be drawn in many areas between Pakistan and Turkey for improving trade ties between the two countries as there is no example of the deep love held between the Pakistani and the Turkish people. He said that it was high time to translate the gains of the excellent brotherly relations between the two countries for qualitative up-gradation in our bilateral economic and commercial ties.
He underscored the importance of strengthening rail and air connectivity to further boost co-operation between the two countries and said that there was a dire need for a greater number of flights of Turkish Airlines to destinations in Pakistan and PIA should also increase its flights to Turkey.
In his welcome address, Mr Zafar Bakhtawari, President ICCI said that brotherly and friendly ties between Pakistan and Turkey should have been transformed into beneficial economic relations. He said that during the floods and earthquakes, the Turkish government and people have always stood with their Pakistani brothers. The ICCI President said that the annual bilateral trade between Turkey and Pakistan was very low, which was around $1.8billion in 2011 and emphasised increasing bilateral trade up to $3 billion for the economic prosperity of the two countries.