ANKARA, 3 January: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said it was high time that Pakistan and Turkey took their bilateral trade to a high level, citing Pakistan’s ideal geo-strategic location and its huge potential for investment in infrastructure and tourism.
Addressing the Turkish businessmen at a business forum organized by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the prime minister said that Pakistan was a virgin territory as a lot of trade areas had not yet been exploited and hardly 5% of total mineral reserves could yet be explored.
The prime minister said huge reserves of oil, gas, copper, coal were yet unexplored. He said as Pakistan was undertaking huge connectivity projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the issue of huge distance impeding Pak-Turkish trade would be resolved.
He said both the countries should start working from now to benefit from the huge opportunities coming out of BRI as it would connect those parts of the world which had been no or less connectivity.
The prime minister said out of 210 million population of Pakistan, around 120 million were below 35 years of age, which besides being a great potential, also required job opportunities.
He Pakistan was ideally connected with the world’s two biggest markets including China and India. Khan said Pakistan is improving its governance system and efforts are underway to further improve ease of doing business and cutting.
Prime Minister assured the Turkish investors that under redefined policies, the government would allow the investors to make money as it would create wealth thus bringing employment opportunities for the youth.
He informed that Pakistan was also embarking on a gigantic project to build five million housing units and Turkish construction companies were welcome to invest there too. Special Economic Zones being developed with China under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was another great opportunity to invest, he added.
The prime minister told the Turkish businessmen that Pakistan was one of the most diverse countries in tourism with being home to half of the world’s 12 highest mountain peaks. It is also a center of Buddhism, Sikh, Hindu tourism and was rich of the oldest Indus Valley Civilization.
Citing centuries old ties between Turks and this region, the prime minister said Turks had been the part of ruling elite for hundreds of years and the people of sub-continent donated money when Turkey was fighting for its independence.
Later, the prime minister, along with his team also responded to the questions from the audience.
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