Pakistan and Turkey Summit: "Aiming for $5 Billion in Bilateral Trade"

Bilateral Summit Held in Istanbul
Expanding Comprehensive Cooperation in Defense, Energy, and Critical Minerals

Pakistan and Turkey, long-standing traditional allies, held a summit and agreed to strengthen their strategic cooperation across various sectors, including defense and the economy. The two countries also set concrete milestones to significantly expand the scale of bilateral trade.

According to Geo News of Pakistan and China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on July 5 (local time), Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, the previous day and held a bilateral summit with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Prime Minister Sharif of Pakistan, exclusive.

President Erdogan, speaking at a joint press conference immediately after the summit, said that the two leaders reviewed detailed plans to broaden economic exchanges and held in-depth discussions on comprehensive industrial cooperation in areas such as defense, energy, transportation, critical minerals, and information technology (IT). He especially highlighted collaboration in the defense industry as a key driver of the partnership between the two nations, explaining that the scope and strength of cooperation are expanding through new projects currently underway.

It was also officially announced that there are ongoing plans to establish a dedicated Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Karachi, the largest city in the Sindh province of southern Pakistan, to attract Turkish companies.

President Erdogan referred to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last month between the United States and Iran, assessing that this move has greatly contributed to easing tensions in the Middle East. He added that, in order to secure lasting peace and stability in the region, Turkey will continue to maintain close diplomatic solidarity with Pakistan, which serves as a mediator. Since the end of February this year, when the Middle East conflict intensified with airstrikes by the United States and Israel on Iran, Pakistan has taken on a mediating role since March, while Turkey has also made various mediation efforts.

Prime Minister Sharif also reaffirmed the historic and deep-rooted ties with Turkey and announced that the two countries have agreed to work together to raise bilateral trade to the target level of 5 billion dollars (approximately 7.6 trillion won). After the summit, Prime Minister Sharif shared on his social media account that a broad-ranging dialogue had taken place across all areas of the strategic partnership.

Pakistan and Turkey have traditionally been close allies, cooperating closely in military and diplomatic fields, and are often referred to as "brotherly Islamic nations" due to their mutual support on various international issues.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.