Turkish, Pakistani firms sign $300 million deals

ISTANBUL

Turkishj Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan (R), Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sherif (C) and TUSKON head Rızanur Meral attend the meeting.

Turkish and Pakistani businesspeople inked a number of agreements worth $300 million yesterday, during a business forum organized by the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey (TUSKON).

“The Pakistani government plans to build more than 500,000 new houses in the next period. Turkey’s state housing system, pioneered by TOKİ, is very suitable to us as well. I want to invite the Turkish investors to Pakistan,” said Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sherif during the event.

Turkey and Pakistan may develop closer economic relations in the fields of energy, construction and education as well as housing-development, according to TUSKON head Rızanur Meral.

The annual bilateral trade volume between the two countries recently reached $1 billion.

“It was just $175 million 10 years ago. I am pretty sure that the two countries will further increase their trade volume in the future,” said Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, adding that the planned preferential trade agreement between Turkey and Pakistan needed to come into effect in order to double the bilateral trade volume.