Türkiye, Pakistan seek to deepen economic ties, boost trade to $5B

Türkiye and Pakistan should turn their long-standing brotherly ties into stronger economic cooperation, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said Saturday.

Speaking at the Türkiye-Pakistan Business and Investment Forum in Istanbul alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Yilmaz said the friendship between the two countries has always been built on "strong emotional bonds."

"Now we must make this friendship equally strong in trade, investment, technology and production," he said.

Yilmaz said the two countries aim to raise bilateral trade volume to $5 billion, a target agreed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Sharif.

He noted that current trade, at around $1.2 billion last year, remains below potential, and that the $5 billion target should be seen as "modest" and raised further.

Yilmaz said Turkish direct investments in Pakistan have exceeded $2 billion, while Turkish contractors have completed 74 projects worth about $3.5 billion in the country.

He said Ankara and Islamabad could further expand cooperation in areas including automotive, agriculture technologies, food processing, medical devices, renewable energy, information technologies, e-commerce, defense industry, shipbuilding, tourism, and film and television production.

Yilmaz also welcomed a proposal to allocate a special zone for Turkish investors inside the Karachi Industrial Park, saying it could add a "new strategic dimension" to the economic partnership.

Sharif, for his part, said Türkiye is one of Pakistan's "most loyal allies" and praised Ankara's support for Islamabad.

He called for the ideas discussed at the forum to be turned into concrete results, saying the two countries should move quickly to transform their friendship into deeper economic cooperation.

The forum was also attended by Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir, Trade Minister Omer Bolat, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, Pakistani ministers, and business representatives from both countries.