Turkish President receives President of Pakistan’s Special Envoy, Turkey-Pakistan agrees to boost economic ties

ANKARA, 17 October 2012: Turkish President Mr. Abdullah Gul here today warmly received Minister of State/Chairman Board of Investment Mr. Saleem H. Mandviwalla.

Mr. Mandviwalla, who is visiting Turkey as a Special Envoy of President of Pakistan Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, delivered a special message from him to President Gul.

President Gul agreed with Mr. Mandviwalla that both Pakistan and Turkey need to focus energies on further enhancing their economic and commercial relations. President Gul emphasized that the two countries should make concerted efforts to meet the target of US$ 2 billion bilateral trade by 2012. Mr. Mandviwalla brought to the attention of President Gul the negative impact of safeguard measures imposed by Turkey on Pakistan’s textile exports to Turkey and underlined the need for urgently concluding a comprehensive Preferential Trade Arrangement between the two countries.

President Gul said Turkish leadership is encouraging businessmen to further expand their investment ventures in Pakistan, especially in the energy and infrastructure sectors. President Gul also referred to the Istanbul-Islamabad cargo goods train project (Gul Train) and stressed the need for effective and efficient operations of the cargo train. This will give further momentum to economic activities in the entire region, he added.

Mr. Mandviwalla briefed the Turkish President about the state of Pakistan’s economy and investment policies. Mr. Mandviwalla stated that attractive investment policies such as 100% equity, profit and dividend repatriation make Pakistan a good candidate for global investment.

Secretary Commerce Mr. Munir Qureshi, Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkey Mr. Muhammad Haroon Shaukat, Consul General Istanbul Dr. Yusuf Junaid and Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Moin-ul-Haq were also present in the meeting.

ENDS

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