Eyes on $5 Billion Bilateral Trade Turkiye’s Consul General Invites Multi-Sectoral Delegation

Karachi: Mr. Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, Acting President FPCCI, has apprised the entire business, industry and trade community of Pakistan that H. E. Mr. Cemal Sangu, Consul General of Turkiye in Karachi, has invited a multi-sectoral business delegation from the apex platform of FPCCI to explore the avenues for trade and economic cooperation. The two countries have an evident bilateral trade potential of $5 billion; but, at present, we are only at $1 billion per year, he added.

Mr. Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, Acting President FPCCI, reiterated that both sides have agreed that we should take tangible steps to realize the trade potential – whereas, Pakistan stands to gain tremendous foreign earnings through exports of value-added textiles; leather goods; processed foods; IT & IT-enabled services; sports goods and surgical equipment.

Mr. Asif Sakhi, VP FPCCI, reiterated that Turkiye has world-class expertise in manufacturing and engineering products; specifically, electric vehicles (EVs); renewable energy (RE); avionics & drones; robotics & machine learning; artificial intelligence (AI); space sciences and agriculture & food technologies. Pakistan should go for industrial collaborations with Turkiye through offering its land coupled with a huge pool of young but cheap labor, he added.

Mian Zahid Hussain, Chairman of FPCCI’s Policy Advisory Board (FPCCI-PAB), maintained that Pak – Turkiye Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) is a very positive development as Pakistan achieved a bilateral trade surplus of over $100 million in 2023 – underscoring the strengthening economic partnership and mutual benefits fostered by this agreement.

Mr. Salman Tufail, Chairman of FPCCI’s Pakistan – Turkiye Joint Business Council (PTJBC), highlighted that agricultural, technology and entertainment industries should be prioritized as Turkiye is very advanced in agritech; at par with European standards in hi-tech products and has a great entertainment industry ecosystem. We should invite investments and JVs from Turkiye in various segments of entertainment industry, i.e. film & television studios; cinemas & theatres; sports complexes and theme & recreational parks, he added.

H. E. Mr. Cemal Sangu, Consul General of Turkiye in Karachi, called for action in economic, commercial and trade domain as Pakistan and Turkiye have enormous potential for each other as they have populations of 250 million and 85 million respectively.

H. E. Mr. Cemal Sangu outlined areas of potential cooperation as: (i) agricultural land acquisition for cultivation from Turkish investors as they are doing in Africa (ii) importing hi-tech engineering equipment and machinery from Turkiye on cheaper rates but at par with European standards as most of Turkish exports are to Europe (iii) synchronizing rail system of Pakistan with Turkiye & Iran to enable land-based transportation of goods (iv) forging B2B and chamber-to-chamber alliances between the two countries on a sectoral basis to enhance trade in multiple sectors.

Brig Iftikhar Opel, SI (M), Retd.
Secretary General